The European Commission has launched infringement procedures against Malta over a bilateral air service agreement with Russia.
The Commission said that it had issued Malta with a formal request for information known as a 'letter of formal notice'.
The Commission is concerned that the agreement between Malta and Russia may hinder equal treatment of EU airlines and competition between European airlines and provide a basis for Siberian overflight charges that may be illegal under EU anti-trust rules.
Similar letters of formal notice have already been sent to 23 other EU member states in recent months.
The Commission said that the fact that European Union airlines have to pay to fly over Siberia on their way to Asian destinations could not only make the flights more expensive, but could also lead to unfair competition between EU and non-EU airlines.
The view of the European Commission is that air transport agreements must treat all EU airlines equally, and respect antitrust rules. Otherwise some EU airlines may be treated less favourably than their direct competitors or face paying unreasonable additional charges which can get passed on to consumers in higher air fares.
Malta has been given two months to reply.
GOVERNMENT EXPLAINS
The Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications said it was well aware of the obligation that air transport agreements entered into between Member States and other countries must treat all EU airlines equally and respect antitrust rules.
It said the existing Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Russia dated back to 1981, from the time of the former USSR and prior to Malta’s accession to the EU and it had needed to be amended to bring it in line with EU rules. However, in view of the fact that the Commission was working towards a horizontal mandate to discuss EU air services agreements on behalf of the Member States, Malta had refrained from commencing negotiations with the Russian Federation so as not to prejudice the work of the Commission.
However, since the talks between Russia and the Commission had not developed to the stage of conclusion, Malta has approached Russia and informed it of its desire to commence discussions with a view to amending the current ASA.
Similar infringement proceedings to the ones launched today against Malta and Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia, have already been launched against France, Germany, Austria, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Unite Kingdom, Cyprus, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.