Brussels defends the transparency of the aviation agreement with Qatar and sees no reason to stop its ratification

BRUSSELS, 31 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The European Commission has defended this Tuesday in a debate with MEPs that the aviation agreement that it negotiated on behalf of the 27 with Qatar was negotiated with full “transparency” and “nothing was done that should not be”, so it does not see reason to paralyze its ratification process as some voices in the European Parliament claim after the scandal of the bribes allegedly paid by this country to gain influence in the European institutions.

“From the perspective of how the agreement was negotiated, the transparency in which it was done, the consultations, the need to have the 27 — and their industry — (it was done) in such a way that I can’t see any way of interfering or doubtful impact”, has settled the head of the Community Executive for aviation agreements in the General Directorate of Transport, Carlos Bermejo Acosta, to defend the “transparency” with which Brussels negotiated the agreement with Qatar.

“Otherwise the agreement would not have been negotiated, we would have stopped it much sooner”, he stressed, before pointing out that in an international agreement the parties can decide to leave at any time because in the same way that they are “free” to seal it, they they are also to “abandon” it.

The EU and Qatar signed the agreement in October 2021, after negotiations that lasted between 2016 and 2019, but it is still in a long ratification process that for this type of agreement usually takes years, so its provisional application while this procedure is completed.

In fact, in the case of the EU-Qatar agreement, only eight member countries have already ratified it (Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Ireland, Greece, Hungary and Austria) and until it is concluded in the 27 national parliaments, there will be no It will go to the European level for the Council to endorse it and the European Parliament to give its consent.

In this context, the community expert also wanted to emphasize that the objective of the negotiated agreement was not to liberalize access to the sector, since there are 23 EU countries with bilateral agreements with Qatar, but to “create equal conditions and ensure a fair competition”, while it introduces “social and environmental” guarantees and avoids “future distortions in competition”.

Likewise, Bermejo Acosta has insisted on the questions from the MEPs of the Parliamentary Transport Committee that throughout the negotiation Brussels informed, consulted and agreed on the positions with the Member States and their respective aviation sectors to ensure that the result was satisfactory. for all.