§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the latest effort of the European Union to replace separate national air traffic accords with an open skies pact between the US and Europe. [39760]
§ Mr. NorrisThe European Commission's proposal for a draft negotiating mandate for EU-US negotiations, aimed at liberalising the EC-US market, was put to the Council of Ministers for consideration at its meeting in June 1995.
The Council agreed to postpone discussion of the Commission's proposal and instead requested the Commission to carry out a thorough analysis to show whether a better result for all member states could realistically be produced by negotiations at Community level and to define the common interest. The study is due 33W to be presented at the December Transport Council meeting.