Following unanimous agreement by the Council of Transport Ministers on 5 June, to give the European Commission a mandate to negotiate an open aviation area (OAA) agreement with the United States, the first round of formal detailed negotiations commenced in Washington last week. A second round of negotiations is due to take place in Brussels in December. During these negotiations, a special committee made up of all member states will assist the Commission. Ireland is represented on this committee by a senior official from my Department.
As I indicated in answer to questions earlier this year, the objective of the EU/US negotiations is to create a situation in which European and US airlines are not constrained as to the destinations to which they fly, just as they are not so constrained within Europe today. It is unclear how long these negotiations will take.