Abstract
This chapter sees the bilateral deadlock resolved in the context of negotiations leading to the signature in 2007 of the EU-US Air Transport Agreement, suspending the application of Bermuda 2 with effect from 30 March 2008. European resistance to such an agreement is gradually undermined by the US policy of negotiating Open Skies agreements with smaller EU member states, bringing pressure to bear on Germany, France and the UK. Meanwhile, having established an internal aviation market from 1993, the Commission claims its right to negotiate for the EU, and in 2002 obtains a ruling in that sense from the European Court of Justice. A mandate is agreed, but a first draft agreement is rejected in 2004 by the EU Council of Transport Ministers, and a second draft in 2006 by the US Congress. Agreement is finally reached in 2007 on the promise of a second stage to contain further liberalisation of access to the US market. The second stage is disappointing, but the UK is isolated in opposition and accepts the outcome.
Notes
- 1.
UK record of meeting between Cecil Parkinson (UK Secretary of State for Transport) and Sam Skinner (US Secretary of Transportation), Washington, 11 Jan 1990.
- 2.
The CRAF allows the Defense Department to call on civil aircraft in a military emergency, in return for granting exclusive rights to US airlines to carry US government personnel travelling on official business—the Fly America Programme.
- 3.
The finality of this pronouncement and its impact on the assembled officials is reminiscent of the court room drama in December 1976 when Lord Denning pronounced Freddie Laker a ‘man of enterprise’, signalling the inevitability of his ruling against the British government (see Chap. 2).
Bibliography
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Stevens, H. (2018). Chapter 6 The European Denouement. In: The Life and Death of a Treaty . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65705-9_6
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