The Chinese government has pledged to enter talks on a possible European Union-wide aviation agreement after completing internal studies on removing nationality clauses from bilateral accords.
Wang Ronghua, director general of the Department of International Affairs and Co-operation at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), says: “We can start negotiating with the EU after concluding our assessment.”
Wang’s comments, made last week at the high-level EU-China Aviation Summit in Beijing, came in response to growing calls for an aviation agreement with China that represents all members of the European grouping.
The European Commission has made an EU-wide aviation deal with China one of its top external aviation policy priorities and in March said it wanted a mandate from EU ministers to begin talks.
What must be addressed first is the removal of nationality clauses from bilateral air services agreements that the European Court of Justice outlawed in 2002. This was raised at the Aviation Summit by European Commission transport chief Jacques Barrot.
“One of our priorities is to make sure our aviation relations are founded on a sound legal basis,” he said. “Bilateral air services agreements between EU member states and most third countries, including China, are not in conformity with Community law. They need to be amended in order to provide legal certainty to all operating airlines.”
He said a liberal air services agreement covering all the EU and China could then be negotiated to allow for more air services.
China has bilateral air services agreements with 22 of the EU’s 25 states. The CAAC’s Wang says two rounds of technical discussions have already been held to learn more about the EU’s position on the nationality clause issues.
NICHOLAS IONIDES/BEIJING
Source: Flight International
