Brussels, 19/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - During his visit to Washington, European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas certainly pointed out the restrictions to investment that are putting a brake on good EU-US air relations. Arguing for strengthened cooperation on aviation between the two transatlantic blocs, Kallas pushed the United States to work together with the EU to obtain a global agreement with a view to reducing CO2 emissions from aviation.
Speaking to the International Aviation Club in Washington on 18 April, Kallas noted that “we have already established a high degree of cooperation in regulating aviation. But there are still some barriers to be overcome, particularly those that limit airlines' access to global capital”. He stated that the main issues are ownership and control: “EU carriers are not subject to restrictions and can be owned by any EU interest. In the United States, on the other hand, foreign ownership of airlines is restricted to 25%”. Consequently, Kallas believes that, “if truly transatlantic airlines are to be created, which is in both our interests, US investment laws need to be changed”. This is all the more important as “with Asia and the Gulf as new centres of growth, major European and American airlines are under pressure”, he reiterated.
Kallas once again stressed the importance of global action to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment, and he did not hide the fact that “the next six months will be tough” leading up to a decisive meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on this subject. He stressed that “the United States and Europe now have to work closely together if the ICAO Assembly is to have any chance of reaching agreement on a common scheme for aviation emissions”. (MD/transl.fl)