[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 26 (Thursday, February 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                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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