Brussels, 13/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - Finnish Transport Minister Susanna Huovinen and her Russian counterpart, Igor Levitin, are to meet in Lappeenranta, in the region of Sothern Karelia to the south-east of Finland, on 8 September. Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot will also be there. Their meeting comes within the framework of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council and will focus on transport. Although the agenda of the meeting has not yet been formally decided, the problem of the flight charges imposed by Russia on European airlines wishing to fly over Siberia will clearly be one of the main subjects of the meeting. The Finnish Transport Ministers told a small group of journalists on 13 July that flights over Siberia is something that must be taken into consideration. She said she was fully in line with the European Commission and Council on this issue.
We recall that, in March this year, the Council had given the Commission a negotiating mandate for ending this abusive regime, which costs EU airline companies hundreds of millions of euros per year, linking it to Russia's membership to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) foreseen for the end of the year (see EUROPE 9176). To date, negotiations have proved difficult, mainly on the increased frequency of European flights over Russian territory in general, and Siberia in particular, as Moscow is reticent about such a request on the part of Europe. Since their last meeting at technical level mid June the Commission is still waiting for Russian comments on European requests. Another technical meeting is expected to take place between the two partners before the ministerial on 8 September. There is no doubt that Finland will seize the opportunity of the meeting to put its preferential links with Russia to good use in order to try and bring the dossier out of deadlock, above all as far as its own airlines are concerned.