Brussels, 25/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is considering referring a number of EU member states to the EU Court of Justice over bilateral aviation agreements concluded with Russia. Four infringement procedures could very well be announced on Tuesday 26 October, despite the fears expressed by the German delegation at the last Transport Council on 15 October. Germany, backed by a few member states, would prefer dialogue. It is unhappy about resorting to infringement procedures which, it says, only reveals the Commission's failure in the aviation sector with Russia. Germany says that negotiations remain in stalemate because Russia is unwilling to accept the basic principles of EU law of the air. The Commission takes the view, however, that, in line with the Court's “Open Skies” ruling, bilateral agreements are at variance with the Treaty because of their discriminatory national clauses (see EUROPE 9142). In 2007, the Council granted the Commission a mandate to negotiate and conclude a “horizontal” air agreement with Russia which would bring existing bilateral agreements into line with European law. It also granted the Commission a special mandate to negotiate “agreed principles” to bring an end to surcharges imposed by Russia on flights overflying Siberia (see EUROPE 9162 and 9314). The agreement did not, however, refer to traffic rights (the number of flights on a specific route, such as Paris to Vladivostok), responsibility for which member states preferred to retain. It was to guarantee mechanisms rebalancing tariffs between companies already operating trans-Siberian routes (KLM, SAS, Alitalia, Air France, Lufthansa, Finnair, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways) and companies seeking to open up new routes through the agreement. It has yet to be signed by Moscow and there is nothing to suggest that it will be signed before Russia joins the World Trade Organisation. (A.By./transl.rt)