Andrew Doyle/MUNICH
The signing of a long-awaited deal to integrate 10 more countries into the European Union's (EU) liberalised single aviation market is likely to be delayed until at least September.
The hold-up has been caused by the failure of two of the nations involved to agree terms with the EU on the period of time over which liberalisation will be phased in.
"We have an agreement but there are two small problems to be resolved," confirms EU head of air transport economic policy Frederik Sorensen. He declines to comment on specific details of the outstanding issues or name the countries concerned.
Sorensen says he sees little hope of resolving the problems before the summer break, pushing any deal back until September or October at the earliest. Some of the countries have agreed to liberalise their air markets as soon as the agreement comes into effect, some time in 2001, while others are pushing for a phased introduction over several years.
The 10 nations that intend to join the "common aviation area" are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Already participating are the EU members, plus Iceland and Norway.
Members of the common aviation area must agree to liberalise international routes between themselves, open their domestic markets and relax rules governing foreign ownership. Once an agreement has been reached with the EU, the terms must be ratified by the parliaments of each of the 10 nations.
Meanwhile, European commissioners are to meet in September to discuss the issue of government "golden shares", which in theory could prevent EU domiciled companies taking controlling interests in flag carriers such as Lufthansa and KLM.
The EC is concerned that these provisions, designed to protect "national interests", run contrary to the principle of the single European market.
Source: Flight International
