Slovenia: EU Hopes to Reach Aviation Deal With USA By 2010

Text of report in English by Slovene news agency STA,

Brdo pri Kranju, 16 May (STA) – The EU is hopeful that talks on the second stage of liberalization of transatlantic aviation could be completed by the end of 2010. “That could be the year when we could finalize the negotiations,” Daniel Calleja, the chief EU negotiator for the Open Skies agreement, told reporters on Friday.

The two sides will meet again in Washington, DC in September, whereupon negotiations will continue through 2009. This leaves a full year for a further review.

“I think we are on the right track, I look forward to continuing negotiations,” Calleja said at Brdo pri Kranju as the two sides finished the first round of talks on the further deregulation of air travel across the Atlantic.

The chief US negotiator, special envoy to the EU John Byerly, was however more reserved. “We can only make progress if both sides find ways to overcome their reluctance on some of the issues on the ground. It is very hard to predict, there is not an absolute time frame for the completion of any deal.”

With the first stage of the liberalisation, which kicked in at the end of March, any EU airline can fly from anywhere in the EU to any point in the United States, and then on to a third country. This also applies to US carriers flying into the EU.

In the second stage the focus will be on removing barriers to cross-border investment in airlines, allowing for example transatlantic airline mergers.

The EU has been seeking to scrap rules that limit foreigners’ voting rights in US airlines to 25 per cent. The current limit in the EU is 49 per cent, but the EU could lower it if the two sides fail to make headway in the current negotiations.

This will also be the toughest issue, which was confirmed by Calleja as well Byerly.

“It can help airlines on both sides of the Atlantic to have access to capital. I think we have a range of views, those will be very challenging issues,” Byerly said.

Additionally, the US has come up with a proposal to broaden the accord and include many more countries in the liberalisation. The EU does not oppose the initiative, but it would like to “deepen” the existing bilateral open skies deal first.

“We think it is a good idea, but we think it is important to deepen the relationship and then to extend it. We see it as complimentary initiative to our negotiations,” Calleja said.

“We want primarily the open aviation area… but we don’t disagree that this should also pave the way to wider reform of aviation. Europe thinks that aviation, which is a global sector, needs to be normalised,” he added.

Byerly said the US would not necessarily insist on this proposal, but it believes that it is in the interest of both sides. The EU and US also need to play a leadership role, he said, adding that “there are no two areas in the world that have done more to liberalise aviation.”

“When you lead, you need to take the rest of the world along. We think it is a very valuable proposal,” Byerly said.

Originally published by STA news agency, Ljubljana, in English 1245 16 May 08.

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