Aftermath of the Open Skies Sample Clauses

Aftermath of the Open Skies judgments, external aviation relations at present The Commission tried to seize the opportunity and make the most of the Open Skies judgments, therefore adopting a rather hard-line position as to the interpretation and consequences of the Court of Justice ruling.141 The Commission held that the illegality problem of ASAs entailed a comprehensive international aviation policy which has to be elaborated upon in order to address the problem.142 This is necessary due to the value added when compared with the effort of individual Member States. In the Commission’s opinion, ‘the only way to proceed is in a coordinated manner, using the Community institutions’.143 The Commission thought that bringing ASAs in line with EU law would be achieved by negotiating new EU level agreements. Member States disagreed and insisted upon their involvement in future negotiations. In February 2003, the Commission had already formulated a proposal which sought to achieve a compromise.144 It stressed that, in the case of limited traffic rights, capacity or frequency, distribution and allocation should be non-discriminatory and made between airlines having equal rights, irrespective of their nationality. Concerning the role of EU institutions and Member States in international relations, 140 Open Skies Austria case (n 137) paras 138-145. 141 Communication from the Commission on the consequences of the Court judgements of 5 November 2002 for European air transport policy COM (2002) 649 final. 142 ibid para 39. 143 ibid para 42. 144 COM (2003) 94 final; Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation on the negotiation and im-plementation of air service agreements between Member States and third countries 2003/0044 (COD). it is established that joint action by both parties is required.145 The Commission therefore proposed a package of measures containing a full mandate from the Council to negotiate an open aviation area agreement with the US, a general mandate to negotiate aviation issues of exclusive EU competence, and a draft regulation providing a coordination and information exchange mechanism between the Commission and the Member States to ensure coherent outcomes from the bilateral discussions which Member States and the Commission have with different partners. On 5 June 2003,146 the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate an EU level ASA with the US,147 a comprehensive, liberal air service agreement that would establish an open aviation area between the EU and ...