14 DAY TRIAL // The House of Representatives might be able to stop US airlines from flying to Europe, after its members passed a bill in which they try to determine airline companies to disobey the EU carbon emissions regulations.
The officials do not agree with EU's initiative of charging the airlines according to the amount of CO2 that they emit into the atmosphere, and therefore, authorities came up with a strategy meant to cancel out the effects of such a legal measure.
Despite the fact that this measure is unlikely to be adopted and become a legal measure, this strategy has increased the tensions between the US and the EU.
Based upon the fact that making non-European companies comply with an EU regulation would represent a violation of international law, several officials already went to the European Court of Justice but came up empty handed, after the Court decided that their arguments are "unconvincing" and "erroneous".
Apparently, the EU regulations are vehemently criticized, since authorities say that they are able to threaten the American economy, putting in danger thousands of jobs and companies which operate in the aviation field.
"Congress and the US government will not support this ill-advised and illegal EU tax scheme.” stated committee chairman John Mica, a Republican from Florida.
This actions will most likely fail to obtain the Senate's support, mostly because the Obama administration doesn't want to assume the responsibility of a potential conflict with Europe, generated by the refusal to comply with the present regulations.
Since EU does not intend to change its set of regulation for US flight companies, once such enterprises will reject the project, they will be forced to abandon their EU routes. Such an extreme measure would significantly affect their profit and position on the international market.
Us airlines will have to start complying with the EU regulations at the beginning of next year. At first, respecting all the rules will be cost-free, but in time studies have showed that the price of tickets will increase, since companies will have to take approximately £9bn out of their budget to support the costs of additional allowances.