BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission condemned a unilateral US decision to terminate a 1992 accord on transatlantic air subsidies, saying the move was invalid and therefore the deal remained in force.
A spokeswoman for EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said Washington appears to trying to wriggle out of the rules agreed by the 1992 agreement on aid to rival aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.
"We don't think they have provided grounds for terminating the aggreement and therefore we dont think it is a substantiated termination," spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez told reporters, citing a letter sent to Washington.
"We have the feeling that this may be away for them to escape from the disciplines in the 1992 agreement," she added.
The 1992 accord, which the US announced it was abandoing earlier this week in a dispute over aid to aircraft giants Boeing and Airbus, remains in force, according to the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP.
"The European Community considers that this purported abrogation is invalid, and that, consequently, the agreement is still in force," said the letter.
The European Union and the United States this week announced tit-for-tat appeals to the World Trade Organization as the dispute over subsidies for their rival aircraft manufacturers escalated.
The letter said the Commission, which conducts trade negotiations on behalf of the 25-member EU, said that the US pullout "is based on no evidence but on groundless and unsubstantiated general allegations of non-compliance."
"Contrary to these unsubstantiated allegations, there is no material breach or otherwise non-compliance by the European Community," the letter said.