The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers approved last Monday the referral to the Parliament of the Air Transport Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of the Philippines, while authorizing the manifestation of Spain’s consent to be bound by the said Agreement.
The Air Transport Agreement between Spain and the Philippines was finalized at a meeting held in Madrid on May 20, 2009, with the purpose of updating and adapting the legal framework on air links between the two countries to European regulations. The text was signed in Madrid on June 12, 2018, following authorization by the Council of Ministers on March 2 of that year. Subsequently, the agreement was referred to the Parliament in September 2018, but the dissolution of the Chambers in March 2019 for the calling of elections forced the process to resume.
The agreement reflects the usual formula of this type of bilateral air services agreements and includes in its articles the administrative clauses that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends to its member states in this type of agreements. As this is a mixed competence agreement between Spain and the European Union (EU), the text includes in its articles the standard principles and clauses established and required by the EU for air transport service agreements between Member States and third countries. The European Commission has given its approval for Spain to sign this agreement.
