ABSTRACT
How did the institutions of the EC, and most importantly the Commission, respond to the pressures that were beginning to grow for reform of regulation in the airline industry from the marketplace, the liberal Member States and NGOs and organized interests? It will take the rest of this chapter to answer that question fully, but one would have to say, in general terms, that the Commission responded rather erratically, changing its position, experiencing a very sharp learning curve, and accumulating expertise that led it, by 1984, to a clearer perspective on what was needed and how it might be achieved. But, along the way, it made serious miscalculations about what might be acceptable to the Member States, including those which wanted liberal reform. After they joined the Community in 1973, while the British worked closely with the Commission to advance the cause of regulatory reform, they were also, ironically, the most apprehensive about the possibility of the EC gaining more powers and encroaching further into state sovereignty.
