Brussels, 23/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - Loyola de Palacio, Transport Commissioner, said on Wednesday that there will be no air agreement between the European Union and the United States between now and the EU/US Summit on 26 June in Dublin (for the agenda, see EUROPE of 22 June, p.11). The Commissioner confirmed what had been hinted by the Transport Council of 11 June, quite simply rejecting the latest US proposals in this connection (EUROPE of 12 June, p.8). Saturday's summit should therefore simply note "progress made" to date during negotiations and insist on the need to pursue discussions at a later date, a person familiar with the issue told EUROPE.
"There will be no decision at the next summit. It is quite impossible to come to an agreement in just two days", Commissioner de Palacio said during a press conference. She added that she would continue negotiating in order to seek to reach an agreement in coming weeks. Ms de Palacio again deplored the imbalance prevailing within the EU where 15 Member States have signed "Open Skies" agreements with the United States, agreements which, though ruled "illegal" by the EU Court of Justice in November 2002, continue to be applied, giving these States advantages compared to the ten countries that have not signed such agreements. Although the Commissioner reassured the press that she would "not allow this situation to be prolonged" and once more called on more Member States to "honour the Court's ruling", she is nonetheless in no hurry to give the States concerned formal notice that they must censure the agreements.
It was this inability of the Americans to give European airlines sufficient access to their market and to firmly undertake greater liberalisation of the market in a second phase of talks that was the main stumbling block in talks with the Europeans. After having made major concessions to reach an agreement, mainly by agreeing to give up cabotage, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the European Union to accept the American proposals which already fall far short of expectations. Although discussions are already foreseen between the two parties, there will be no breakthrough on this issue before a new US administration is in place after the presidential elections in November, a source familiar with the dossier told EUROPE.