European Union (EU) transport ministers meeting in Brussels have agreed that a new European Air Safety Authority (EASA) involving the Union and its member states in a treaty with other European states wishing to join, is the preferable route to set up an aviation safety authority to take over the role now undertaken by the Joint Aviation Authorities.
The meeting, on 11 December, has not yet rejected the alternative - a European Commission body not involving non-member states - and has set up a task force which will provide recommendations on the two alternatives "before the end of the UK presidency" in June, says a source close to the talks.
Other actions taken by the ministers included a statement by EC transport commissioner Neil Kinnock that he would be forced to renew court action against EU states making bilateral "open-skies" deals with the USA. The EC says that "the Commission has a right, indeed an obligation, to take action because these bilateral deals contravene community law, which says that liberalisation has to produce advantages for all member states". The transport ministers failed, however, to give the EC a wider mandate to negotiate market access and traffic rights, leaving the present situation "somewhat confused", says a source.
The ministers also condemned Russia's controversial charges on EC airlines flying over Siberia.
Source: Flight International
