Brussels, 14/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 14 March, the European Commission decided to bring a further (the fourth) series of infringement proceedings over bilateral agreements concluded in the field of aviation between the Member States of the EU and Russia. The decision taken on Monday concerns Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia. The Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to each of these countries, asking them for information on the agreements they have concluded with Russia. In the opinion of the European executive, these agreements could adversely affect the quality of treatment and competition between European airlines and be used as a basis for Siberian overflight charges which could be in violation of EU anti-trust rules (EUROPE 10303).
Contrary to European legislation in force, these agreements do not contain the clause which was brought in by the “Open Skies” ruling of the European Court of Justice of 2002, which stipulates that their proposals apply equally to all Community airlines. These agreements, which were negotiated separately, however, lay down charges on top of traffic rights which airlines must pay to the Russian company Aeroflot in order to be allowed to overfly Siberia. Since October of last year, similar letters of formal notice have already been sent to 17 other member states (United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Germany, Austria, Finland, Cyprus, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain, as well as the six states targeted on Monday). The bilateral aviation agreements concluded between the four remaining member states (Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria) and Russia are also being examined. The member states have two months to respond to the letters of formal notice. If it receives no satisfactory response, the Commission will send the countries in question a reasoned opinion calling on them to modify the bilateral agreements in the field of aviation services with Russia. (A.By./transl.fl)