Brussels wins powers on 'open skies' deals By Francesco Guerrera and Daniel Dombey in Brussels Published: May 27 2003 21:09 | Last Updated: May 27 2003 21:09 The European Commission is to win powers to negotiate European Union-wide aviation deals with the US, in a move that could speed up consolidation among struggling EU airlines. After more than a decade of wrangling, national governments are expected to hand over to the Brussels authorities the right to negotiate "open skies" deals with the US. However, EU countries will retain powers to negotiate key aspects of the hundreds of bilateral deals with countries other than the US. The EU "open skies" mandate, to be agreed by transport ministers next week, will prevent member states from favouring national airlines over EU rivals on the lucrative routes to the US. Airline experts believe this would remove a big stumbling block to consolidation of the fragmented European aviation sector. Under current bilateral deals, signed by 11 of the EU's 15 members, only airlines from from the signatory EU countries can fly to the US, the world's most important transport market. As a result, any airline bought by a European rival would lose its right to fly there. These concerns have played an important part in scuppering a number of mergers between EU airlines, including British Airways' proposed tie-up with KLM in 2000. The "open skies" mandate is a victory for the Commission which had been trying for more than 10 years to obtain such powers. Member states' resistance to the Commission's request was dealt a fatal blow last year, when the European Court of Justice ruled that bilateral agreements broke EU law. The Court said the deals unfairly favoured airlines from some EU member states over the others. EU diplomats said on Tuesday some member states, including the UK and the Netherlands, had reservations over the "open skies" deal. However, they said the remaining differences should be ironed out at a meeting of EU deputy ambassadors on Wednesday, in time for a final agreement by transport ministers next week. "It is very likely that we will have an open skies deal next week," said an EU diplomat. People close to the negotiations said concessions to national governments over deals with other countries had helped the Commission to win the mandate for the US. Under the proposed agreement, national governments will retain the right to negotiate key aspects of bilateral deals with other countries provided they consult the Commission. The European Commission on Tuesday removed the last obstacle to the liberalisation of the EU energy markets by agreeing to subject nuclear power companies to tough competition laws. The move, which comes after an internal dispute within the Commission, should pave the way for the approval of the liberalisation by the European parliament next week. Tuesday's decision is a victory for Mario Monti, EU competition commissioner, over the energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio, who had argued in favour of less strict rules on nuclear power companies. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************