The transatlantic deal that won't fly

摘要

Jacques Barrot took the phone call. He knew who it was and why they were calling. Mary Peters, the US secretary of transportation, delivered the bad news: because of bipartisan opposition in the US Congress, squeamishness from airlines and resistance from labour unions, the Department of Transportation was dropping its proposal to amend rules on the actual control of US carriers by foreign entities. Suddenly Europe's raison d'etre for the transatlantic open-skies agreement began to crumble.