Open skies cloudy as DOT withdraws foreign control proposal=0AWednesday Dec= ember 6, 2006 =0ABowing to domestic political pressure exacerbated by the D= emocrats' rise to power in last month's midterm elections, the US Dept. of = Transportation yesterday abandoned its 13-month effort to ease restrictions= on foreign control of domestic airlines, delivering a setback to a potenti= al open skies agreement with the EU.=0AOne week after a group of House avia= tion and transportation committee members sent a letter to the White House = warning that imposing the rule "in the face of bipartisan Congressional opp= osition would be a very poor start to the 110th Congress" (ATWOnline, Dec. = 4), new Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced withdrawal of the pr= oposal, which she said "would have allowed international investors more inp= ut in the marketing, routing and fleet structures of US airlines while reta= ining current domestic ownership and labor protections."=0APeters added tha= t the US remains committed to completing an open aviation agreement with th= e EU, but the European Commission issued a statement yesterday in which VP-= Transport Jacques Barrot "expressed disappointment and regretted this decis= ion." Barrot said the DOT proposal, which was released Nov. 1, 2005, and am= ended last spring, "was an essential element in order to conclude the compr= ehensive first step Air Transport Agreement with the United States."=0APete= rs offered to send negotiators to Brussels "on an urgent basis" early next = year "to review the situation and discuss the way forward," the EU said. Th= e two parties appeared to have reached an accord in May but Congress erecte= d a financial stumbling block in response, passing legislation forbidding D= OT from spending any money on implementing its proposal (ATWOnline, July 21= ).=0A"It was clear from reviewing the comments [to the NPRM] that the Depar= tment needs to do more to inform the public, labor groups and Congress abou= t the benefits of allowing more international investment. We need a stronge= r national consensus about the best means of achieving that objective," Pet= ers said. "Today's announcement in no way deters us from our goal of giving= US airlines complete access to the world's capital markets."=0AThe Air Lin= e Pilots Assn. welcomed the withdrawal of the NPRM, stating that "any polic= y change that holds the potential to dramatically influence the US airline = industry must be part of a full Congressional public process, rather than a= unilateral action by the Administration."=0Aby Brian Straus