European transport ministers showed no overwhelming enthusiasm for the provisional open skies agreement reached between negotiators of the European Commission and the US government last month
The ministers of the 25 EU member states were supportive of the progress achieved to date in the Open Aviation Area talks, yet they stressed to reporters that an accord is conditional on the US relaxing limits on foreign ownership and control.
The UK, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said no agreement will be finalized until US proposals on foreign ownership are clarified. "Until everything is agreed, there is no agreement. Make no mistake about that," British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said. "Before any possibility of an agreement, we need to see exactly what the US is proposing. We don't yet have clarity on rule changes by the US." The US Dept. of Transportation committed to come back with more detailed proposals by Jan. 6. "We will wait until Jan. 6 and evaluate exactly what the rule changes will be," Darling remarked. "I repeat today that any deal with the US has to be balanced."
