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“UNITED STATES-GERMAN BILATERAL AGREEMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S1454 on Feb. 29, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNITED STATES-GERMAN BILATERAL AGREEMENT
Mr. FORD. Mr. President, this morning the Department of Transportation announced an open skies agreement with Germany. Access to Germany, as Secretary Pena has recognized, is critical. I want to recognize the effort by the administration and the Secretary is aggressively pursuing an open skies agreement with Germany.
The agreement today does three things. First, it will enable our carriers to satisfy consumer demand this summer. Second, the Secretary and the German Government also will sign an important safety agreement. Finally, the two countries have initialed an open skies agreement.
The open skies agreement is the 10th with a European country and is a big step forward in our efforts to liberalize aviation agreements in Europe. Germany is the second largest European market. I caution my colleagues not to get over-confident--countries like the United Kingdom are not likely to jump on the bandwagon quickly. Each country and market differs. We also must focus on Japan, which I will discuss at a later date.
This open skies agreement is a major step forward. With all of the praise forthcoming today for the administration and Secretary Pena, I want to raise one issue. The effective date of the open skies agreement is triggered by favorable treatment of an application for antitrust immunity by Lufthansa and United. I have been assured that the request will be treated separately, and that the two matters are not linked. I know the Departments of Justice and Transportation will review the request thoroughly. I would have preferred that consumer benefits of an open skies agreement not be held hostage to a subsequent and independent review of the antitrust issue. This open skies agreement, as the Secretary recognizes, is an important one. I hope that this agreement, and others in the future, are able to be implemented without extraneous issues encumbering the process. I am certain Secretary Pena shares my views and I congratulate him on this breakthrough today.
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