EU Court Adviser Says Netherlands-U.S. Open Skies Pact Violates EU Law

A bilateral "open skies" aviation agreement between the Netherlands and the United States offering lower fares charged by carriers violates European Union law, according to an opinion issued by an adviser to the EU's Court of Justice on Thursday.

The opinion, which is likely to be adopted by the full court after deliberations, follows earlier rulings levied in 2002 against eight other EU nations, demanding they scrap similar "open skies" pacts with the United States.

In his opinion, the EU court's Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi said the Netherlands "failed to fulfill its obligations as a member state," and sided with the European Commission which has argued that such pacts fall under its jurisdiction and not national governments.

The EU head office has further argued that the agreements also discriminate against other European airlines, as the pacts only apply to airlines operating out of the country that signed a deal with Washington and as such violate EU single market rules.

The Dutch agreement with Washington granted domestic Dutch airlines such as Air France-KLM landing rights in the United States, but other EU airlines were excluded.

The Netherlands has so far ignored calls from the Commission to scrap its 1992 bilateral deal and await the outcome of negotiations on a new single aviation pact between the entire 25-nation EU and the United States.

Talks on the new agreement have been stalled on a new broad air deal, which would bring together the world's two largest aviation markets and 60 percent of global traffic, and promote a much wider range of routes and services between the two continents.

The negotiations have made no progress since 2005, when the U.S. rejected EU demands for an end to the U.S. policy of requiring U.S.-based airlines not to be majority-owned by foreigners. The European model of "open skies" would extend to ownership rights.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last week appealed to the newly elected U.S. Congress to commit to restarting those negotiations.

Mengozzi's opinion will now be studied by the EU court's panel of judges before a final decision is issued, which could take months, officials said.

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