A landmark aviation agreement between the European Union and the United States is unlikely before next year, Transport Commissioner Ms Loyola de Palacio told EU transport ministers today.
"We must wait until February," Ms de Palacio was quoted as saying about the "open skies" pact, that would allow European carriers to fly to the United States from any European city and US carriers to fly between EU nations.
The spokesman said Ms de Palacio told ministers "we cannot be very optimistic" about obtaining further concessions from the United States before the presidential election was over.
Nonetheless, he said talks between the two sides would continue in the meantime.
Talks between the EU and the United States began after an EU court ruled that US bilateral deals with individual EU states broke European rules that create a single internal market.
EU transport ministers rejected the latest US offer in June because it lacked significant opening of US domestic routes to European airlines.
A spokesman said Ms de Palacio reiterated the Commission's stance that the current situation - in which those states with bilateral agreements essentially defied the court's ruling - could not continue. She has previously called for those states to renounce their agreements with the United States.
An EU-US open skies pact would replace the bilateral agreements with one that covered all 25 EU members.
The United States has also offered to grant EU carriers the right to own up to 49 per cent voting stock in a US carrier, up from 25 per cent. But it has stalled at one of the EU's key demands - that EU carriers be allowed to fly US domestic routes, a process known as "cabotage".