VZCZCXRO1750
RR RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHHE #1221 3451425
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 111425Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2814
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 001221 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2016 
TAGS: EAIR ECON EUN KTIA EI FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND SAYS REBALANCE NEEDED TO LAUNCH U.S.-EU 
AIR TRANSPORT AGREEMENT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 195012 
 
Classified By: Econoff Glenn Lewis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Econoff delivered reftel demarche on the U.S.-EU Air 
Transport Agreement to Petri Hakkarainen, North America Unit 
of the GOF Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Anne Torkkeli in 
the Transport Services Unit of the GOF Ministry of Transport 
and Communications.  Both contacts expressed disappointment 
that the agreement would not be concluded during the Finnish 
EU Presidency as they had hoped.  Following the U.S.-EU 
Summit in Austria, Finland saw the signing of this agreement 
as almost a guaranteed deliverable during its Presidency. 
 
¶2. (C) Following the withdrawal of the DOT rulemaking 
process, Yrjo Makela, Counselor at the GOF PermRep in 
Brussels, said the agreement would likely need to be 
"rebalanced" since the EU considers the question of foreign 
ownership of U.S. air carriers an essential part of the 
overall package.  Makela said some member states would likely 
be willing to sign the current agreement "as is"; however, he 
was very careful to not reveal the position of individual EU 
countries.  Makela said Finland was supportive of the overall 
Air Transport Agreement; however, as one of the "flexible 
countries" it would likely wait until other countries voiced 
their position on the foreign control issue before 
determining its final position on the need to "rebalance". 
According to Makela, "rebalancing" will touch certain 
elements of the agreement, but it would not require a 
complete renegotiation of the November 2005 agreement 
language.  Makela indicated that solidarity with other EU 
countries on this issue was more important to the Finns than 
questions over foreign control of U.S. air carriers.  Makela 
was optimistic that this issue could be concluded early in 
the German Presidency. 
 
WARE