CIVAIR BEHIND THE SCENES: GOI TAKES LONG VIEW OF

UNCLAS ROME 004802

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

USEU PLEASE PASS TO FAA - PFELDMAN; FAA WASHDC FOR CARL
BURLESON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR ECON ETRD EU IT EUN AVIATION FAA
SUBJECT: CIVAIR BEHIND THE SCENES: GOI TAKES LONG VIEW OF
OPEN SKIES

REF: ROME 2837

(U) Sensitive but unclassified.

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) GOI officials, back from the first round of U.S.-EU
Open Skies negotiations, are taking a long view of the
process, since Italy believes it will be "years" before
existing bilateral agreements are replaced by anything
concrete from Brussels. Aldo Sansone, the Transportation
Ministry's Director General for International Relations and
also a member of the EU negotiating team at the Washington
talks, was frank about the obstacles ahead and about GOI
expectations for the next round of talks in December.
Sansone also offered assurances that the current bilateral
aviation agreement was alive and well and described a
behind-the-scenes exchange with the European Commission in
which the GOI could carry on under the existing bilateral
agreement in return for ceding civair negotiating authority
to Brussels. END SUMMARY.

DOUBTFUL "EARLY HARVEST"
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2. (SBU) According to Sansone, EU negotiators (like their
U.S. counterparts) are using the time before the next round
of talks in December to prepare positions that further
explain their views on the entire range of issues discussed
in Washington. Sansone expects that both sides in December
will clarify their positions - still a preliminary stage
before negotiations begin in earnest. He does not expect an
"early harvest" of minor agreements to emerge from the next
round, and believes that the EU will wait until agreement on
more substantive issues is reached before ceding agreement on
minor issues.

A LONG-HAUL FLIGHT AHEAD
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3. (SBU) Sansone characterized both sides as constrained in
their ability to make significant commitments before the 2004
elections - the EU Parliamentary elections in the spring and
the U.S. general election in the fall. He felt these
elections would empower both sides to bridge significant
U.S.-EU civair divisions. However, he also thought it would
be "years" before final agreements are reached, particularly
in areas such as Open Skies and foreign ownership.


4. (SBU) To reach agreement on the foreign ownership issue,
Sansone explained that the two sides must not only bridge a
deep ideological divide, but also enact internal legislative
changes that will take time. The U.S., he maintained,
pursues the more political and treaty-based Open Skies model,
while the EU - true to its origins as a free internal
economic area - favors the "Open Aviation Area" model, in
which all distinctions between U.S. and EU ownership and
cabotage rights would be erased. The divide is a fundamental
one, which Sansone believes requires cultural and
institutional change and cannot simply be solved by
negotiation alone.

EXISTING BILATERAL AGREEMENT SAFE
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5. (SBU) After the European Court of Justice threatened to
invalidate all individual EU member nation civair agreements
with the U.S. in favor of an agreement with Brussels, the
GOI, according to Sansone, was "fearful" Italy could no
longer operate within the context of the existing bilateral
agreement. Italy then approached the Commission which agreed
that the bilateral agreement could continue as the legal
framework, providing Italy ceded negotiating authority to
Brussels. Sansone thus understands that the existing
U.S.-Italy bilateral agreement remains in force.

COMMENT
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6. (SBU) Seeing wide divergences on issues such as foreign


ownership and open skies, and pre-election political caution
both in Europe and in the U.S., Italy has low expectations
for short-term progress in U.S.-EU civair negotiations. For
these reasons, Italy will continue to observe understandings
reached under the current bilateral civil aviation agreement
for the forseeable future. END COMMENT.
COUNTRYMAN


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2003ROME04802 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED