Brussels, 07/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Early 2002, the European Commission is expected to present a proposal of regulation to fight against "predatory" State aid to third country airline companies, EUROPE was told by Community sources. After the example of the anti-dumping regulation, which does not cover the air sector, the text will aim to allow European companies to defend themselves against the dumping practices of foreign companies through public subsidies.
We recall that, during a recent speech at the Parliament, the Director General for Transport at the Commission, François Lamoureux, had pointed out that the Commission had sufficient evidence to show that aid to Swissair (around CHF 1 billion) had allowed dumping on prices. On the other hand, he had remarked, nothing as yet proves that American aid (around $15 billion) was at the origin of dumping.