EC DEFINES EU-WIDE MECHANISM FOR BILATERAL AGREEMENTS

EC DEFINES EU-WIDE MECHANISM FOR BILATERAL AGREEMENTS    The European Commission on Wednesday (Feb. 25) adopted measures designed to create a legal framework for bilateral relationships between the European Union and the rest of the world in the field of air transport.
   Bilateral air transport agreements between EU countries and other countries have been in a state of legal uncertainty following of ruling last November by the European Court of Justice that agreements signed individually by several EU member states broke EU rules.
   The EC said that its regulatory proposals “will remove the uncertainty of the international air transport industry since the European Court of Justice found that the ‘Open Skies’ bilateral agreements between 8 member states and the United States were not in conformity with the EU Treaty.”
   The measures will also allow EU airlines to develop Europe-wide and international networks by removing the “national ownership” requirements still found in most bilateral agreements.
   “This also finally clears the way for the council (of ministers) to agree on the opening of negotiations between the EU and U.S., which remains our uppermost priority,” said Loyola de Palacio, vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for transport and energy.
   The EC package has three parts:
   * An EC declaration urging EU member states to respect principles such as the promotion of EU goals and non-discrimination between national airlines and other European air carriers;
   * A proposal for an EC general negotiating mandate to negotiate agreements;
   * A proposal for a regulation to ensure proper information exchange within the European Union and non-discriminatory treatment for all European airlines for matters managed by member states.
   The package of measures would trigger potentially wide-ranging changes in the structure and traffic rights of existing country-to-country bilateral agreements. The EC said that the aim of the EU-wide agreements would be to replace the provisions of existing bilateral that do not conform with the European treaty with common standard clauses. “In particular, this means ensuring that traffic rights to and from the Community are no longer reserved to the national flag carriers, but are open more widely to airlines that are owned and controlled by European interests,” it said.