US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE1137

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 001137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/TRA/WALKLET 
USEU FOR J. KESSLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, NL 
SUBJECT: DUTCH PESSIMISTIC ABOUT FIRST-STEP U.S.-EU CIVAIR 
AGREEMENT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 91041 
 
1.  Econ counselor and econoff delivered reftel demarche to 
Rene Fennes, head of international relations at the Ministry 
of Transport.  Fennes, who will participate in US-EU civair 
negotiations in Washington beginning May 10, was pessimistic 
about the likelihood of a first-step agreement before the 
US-EU summit in late June. Fennes said he had seen some of 
his EU colleagues' positions harden, particularly regarding 
the right of establishment.  He singled out the Finns, Swedes 
and new EU members as being more pragmatic about their 
positions. 
 
2.  Fennes said that he hoped that sufficient progress would 
be made before the June US-EU summit to lay the basis for 
further talks during the Dutch presidency and after, 
following the establishment of a new commission in November. 
He added that this depended on the negotiators' willingness 
to agree in principle to further talks, and a positive 
assessment of the negotiations' progress at the summit.  If 
it appeared there was no possibility of post-summit talks, 
Fennes confided that he was seriously concerned about the 
possibility the commission could force renunciations of 
bilateral agreements. 
SOBEL