News Releases

No. 31/07
March 22, 2007

EUROPEAN COMMISSION VICE PRESIDENT JACQUES BARROT WELCOMES UNANIMOUS APPROVAL OF EU-US OPEN SKIES DEAL

"I am delighted to have piloted this agreement to its destination with all passengers still on board. The deal is of great political and economic importance. The fact that everyone in the Council has been able to welcome the outcome is to be commended.

"This agreement is a good agreement – it is good for passengers and good for airlines; it is good for the European Union and its individual Member States, for the United States and for the entire transatlantic economy.

"I am grateful to the Transport Ministers of the EU for the confidence they have expressed in me and my team from start to finish in what has been a long and tough negotiation.

"This confidence and unity means that the European side enters the next phase of negotiations with the United States in a strong position. This first phase of our transatlantic agreement is not a dead-end. I am confident that the process we have started today will continue onwards to deliver greater freedom for investors in aviation, even closer cooperation between the two sides and a healthier air transport industry in general, not just across the Atlantic, but in due course with other countries all over the World."

For further information, please visit:
http://www.eurunion.org/newsweb/HotTopics/OpenSkies.htm .

 

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