RI lobbied European leaders on flight ban during ASEM summit

Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesia took the opportunity of the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) here on Friday and Saturday to lobby European leaders to lift the EU's ban on Indonesian airline flights to Europe. 

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said here on Saturday evening President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had raised the flight ban issue at a meeting with EU president Jose Manuel Barroso on the summit's sidelines. 

Yudhoyono did the same when he met several European leaders in succession, including French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer , Bulgarian President Yves Leterme, and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. 

"I , for my part, also discussed the matter with the British foreign minister and other European foreign ministers I met at the forum," Wirayuda said. 

According to Wirayuda, the EU Commission was in principle sticking to its previously stated position, namely that Indonesia should revise its transportation law to better ensure passengers' safety. 

The EU also wanted to see safety regulations at airline operators' level, he said. 

After Indonesia's transportation law had been revised, the EU would conduct periodic assessments of Indonesian airlines' safety conditions until they reached a score of 65. 

"The scores of some of the airlines , in fact, have now already risen from 25 to 35," he added. 

The minister said he hoped the EU could lift the ban on the Indonesian airlines one by one. 

He said the EU had admitted there had been an improvement in the safety performance of three airlines, namely Garuda Indonesia, Merpati and Airfast. 

At a meeting with the EU president, Wirayuda said, the EU explained that they had not discriminated against Indonesian airlines. "They said they had recently also banned two EU airlines. So they are not discriminating," he said. 

He said the European leaders that had talked with Indonesia even showed their preparedness to help Indonesia. "They asked about what had really been the problem and what they could do to help," he said. 

The minister said the negotiations with the EU would continue until the ban was lifted. 

He hoped at least they could first lift the ban on airlines that had already improved their safety performance.