Kinnock delivers final warning on bilateral ‘open skies’ aviation deals

Date: 17/09/1998

By Chris Johnstone

TRANSPORT Commissioner Neil Kinnock will give EU governments a last chance early next month to abolish their go-it-alone aviation agreements with the US or face legal action.

Kinnock's aides predict the long drawn-out power struggle between the European Commission and member states over the right to conclude international aviation deals will come to a head at a 1-2 October meeting of Union transport ministers.

"We are quite hawkish," said one Commission official. "We feel that there is a principle at stake here."

In preparatory talks to be held in the run-up to the ministerial meeting, governments show no sign of being ready to abandon their insistence that the Commission is going beyond its remit by trying to abolish bilateral 'open skies' accords with the US and seeking to negotiate such deals on behalf of the EU as a whole.

"There has been no change from us," said a German government spokesman.

If member states take a similarly hard line at next month's meeting, Commission officials will be instructed to press ahead with court action against those governments which have signed what amount to free trade aviation agreements with the US.

"All we have to do is start the procedures. That should be quite quick," said an aide.

The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Austria have signed fully-fledged accords with Washington. The UK has an agreement with the US in all but name, according to the Commission, and France's bilateral deal signed earlier this year provides for the sort of exclusive favourable treatment which poses problems in the other accords.

Kinnock threatened court action against eight governments in April, excluding the Netherlands and France, but eventually froze the proceedings to give them time to reconsider.

The Netherlands was not targeted because its deal pre-dated the Commission's claimed competence for action in the sector, established by the 1987 Single European Act. France's bilateral accord also escaped censure because the Commission had not had time to evaluate it.

Kinnock wants national governments to give him a mandate to negotiate international airline deals, arguing that the EU would get a better deal if it spoke with one voice.

He says a common agreement would also pave the way for the creation of a single aviation market in the Union to replace the patchwork of national markets perpetuated by separate deals. These contain exclusive clauses preventing other European airlines flying to the US from national airports.

While studiously staying out of the internal battle within the EU over the issue, Washington is looking for a closer overall relationship on aviation matters with the Commission.

Officials suggest that frequent contacts to compare policies and positions would be useful. "We would like regular meetings to discuss the transatlantic market-place for aviation," said a US official, although he added that a formal forum for exchange of information, such as the competition agreement between the EU and US, would not be necessary.

A top delegation from the Federal Aviation Authority and department of transport is expected to press US demands for improved links when it visits Brussels early next month.