Brussels, 20/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - European Transport Commissioner and Commission Vice-President Loyola de Palacio congratulated the solidarity shown by the Fifteen and expressed in the Council position on the procedure opened by the USA at the International Civil Aviation Organisation against the European regulation banning the registration of aircraft fitted with hushkits (see EUROPE of 20 July, p.7). She welcomes this reflex of solidarity on an issue of direct interest to the defence of EU interests within the ICAO, which, unlike other international organisations, does not integrate the reality of Community construction. As the Community is not yet a full member of the ICAO, the Council "personally" appointed the Director General of the Commission's Legal Service, Jean-Louis Dewost, to conduct negotiations in Montreal. In the preliminary objections adopted by the Council and forwarded to the ICAO on 18 July, the EU questions the admissibility of the American complaint since, among other things: 1) the prior negotiations between the US Administration and the United States did not cover the conformity of the hushkit regulation with the Chicago ICAO Convention; 2) the United States gives a reading of the ICAO policies which go beyond the letter and the spirit of the provisions of the Chicago Convention.