§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, further to their Answer on 23rd January (cols. 327–8) concerning the European Commission and European airlines, they will make a statement on the decisions reached and recommendations made at the meeting of the Council of Transport Ministers held on 17th March.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (The Earl of Caithness)My Lords, at the Transport Council on 14th March my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport stressed that there must be real liberalisation of fares, capacity and market access, before airline agreements can be considered for exemptions from the competition rules. The council instructed officials to continue work urgently on an overall package covering all these elements.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, having paid tribute on many occasions to what the Government are trying to do in all this, may I ask whether the Minister is able to elaborate at all on what he told us on 23rd January as to the progress the Commission had made in what the Minister described to us as the "detailed preparation of possible court cases against member states"? Does the Minister recall that he himself said that such cases might be useful if the council continued to block progress? Could he comment on that?
The Earl of CaithnessMy Lords, we should like to reach agreement within the council and by voluntary means. As the House will know, because I have said it before, at the moment we have the Dutch presidency, to be followed by our own, and if we do not make significant progress by the end of the year we shall probably have to resort to other means to get liberalisation of the air market.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, in view of the fact that Mr. Spicer said last week that it was outrageous that competition in aviation matters in Europe was still so severely restricted, and in view of the opposition that our country is meeting in our European colleagues, could the Minister say whether we have been able to do anything additionally by way of bilateral agreements to hurry these matters up?
The Earl of CaithnessMy Lords, we are making a little progress in creating a more realistic attitude among our friends in Europe. But notwithstanding the progress that we are trying to make in Brussels we have recently secured Italian agreement to the introduction of a new service to Milan by British Caledonian, and I am pleased to be able to tell the House that we have recently secured Spanish approval for 14 new routes, mostly from regional airports in the United Kingdom.
§ Lord UnderhillMy Lords, one hates to be repetitive on this matter, but if I do not ask the question the noble Earl will think that I have forgotten all about it. In the list of matters which he said the Secretary of State raised at this meeting he did not refer to the question of keeping essential co-ordination—and I am delighted with his last answer on the use of regional airports. Was that matter also raised in the consultations?
The Earl of CaithnessMy Lords, I think a repetitive question deserves a repetitive reply. Government policy remains consistent with what I said before.
§ Lord NorthfieldMy Lords, was the Minister saying obliquely in his answer that if no progress is made in the coming months the British Government are prepared to take this matter to the European Court?
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, is it not more than an option? Am I not correct in remembering that we have always been told that as the British Government would be in the chair for the last six months of this year, they would quite definitely deal with this matter if the council were not able to deal with it beforehand?
The Earl of CaithnessMy Lords, indeed we shall do our best to secure agreement when we are president of the council. If we fail in our attempts we shall try by every other means possible to liberalise the air market, of which one means is certainly going to the European Court.