| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| US: Termination of EU Aircraft Pact Legal |
| 2004-10-08 |
| The United States was justified in terminating an aircraft pact with the European Union because the EU gave Airbus production subsidies that violated the pact, a U.S. trade official said on Friday. The 1992 agreement allowed either member to abrogate the pact if the other violated its terms, said Richard Mills, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, responding to European criticism of the move. "The EU has not acted in accordance with the agreement, notably by providing various production subsidies for the A380," the new Airbus super jumbo jet, he said. The United States terminated the pact on Wednesday and also filed a World Trade Organization complaint challenging $3.2 billion in European government "launch aid" loans to help Airbus develop the A380, even though that assistance was permitted under the 1992 pact. In a letter released in Brussels on Friday, the European Commission said it rejected a unilateral U.S. move to terminate the pact since it was not backed by proper reasons and the EU considered the agreement to be in force. U.S. trade officials said they terminated the agreement because European governments had also provided billions of dollars in production subsidies for the A380, which were not allowed under the 12-year-old accord. The United States also argues that nothing in the 1992 agreement, even if it remained in force, would bar it from challenging the A380 launch aid program at the WTO. Mills rejected the EU's charge that the United States was acting unilaterally. "It's difficult to understand to see how enlisting a multilateral organization like the WTO to help resolve a bilateral dispute is considered unilateral. Going to the WTO is the very example of multilateralism," Mills said. Airbus is co-owned by European aerospace company EADS and Britain's BAE Systems. |
| Posted by:Destro |