Beyond the Borders of the Single Market

Abstract

The emergence of an external aviation policy has been one of the most important developments in the EU’s involvement in air transport. The EU has extended its air transport regime to a series of non-member states, created a European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), and launched a neighbourhood programme that reaches to the Mediterranean in the south and the Urals in the east. Moreover, although it was an outsider to the Chicago regime for much of its history, the Union has recently become an increasingly important international influence, a partner of ECAC and active in ICAO. Most dramatic, however, has been the Union’s involvement in air services agreements — the heartland of state sovereignty. A major exercise was initiated to bring member state bilaterals into line with Community law, while the Commission has been granted mandates to negotiate with leading aviation nations. The historic EU-US agreement is its outstanding achievement to date. As a consequence, the Union is an ‘international actor’ in aviation and not merely an ‘international presence’ (Hill 1993, 1998; Allen and Smith 1990; Caporaso and Jupille 1998; Ginsberg 1999).