Protest rally against discrimination of Ukrainian airlines was held in Berlin (photo-report)

A rally in protest against the discrimination of Ukrainian airlines by Germany was held in Berlin.

The action organizer, the European Association of Ukrainians with a headquarters in Brussels, disclosed to UNIAN that the action was aimed at drawing the attention of the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, and Municipal Development to the Ukrainian-German aircraft conflict and the air communication crisis between the two European states.

European Association of Ukrainians representatives claimed during the picketing that “the policy of LBA and Lufthansa violates parity principles of air transportations, hampering the neighbor relations of EU and Ukraine.”

Rally participants expressed a belief that should the discriminatory measures against Ukraine will keep on, the international aircraft conflict between Germany and Ukraine will aggravate.

Besides, during the picketing, European Association of Ukrainians chiefs read an address to the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, and Municipal Development, with a request to help settling the conflict between Germany and Ukraine, and resume the flights of Ukrainian airlines to Germany.

As it is known, on 9 March 2006, the German Federal Department of Civil Aviation revoked DniproAvia`s landing rights first at Frankfurt and then throughout Germany. The reasons given included Lufthansa`s scheduling problems and allegations that the airline had not been given a permit by the Ukrainian authorities for flights in the Summer 2006 period, though the information provided by Lufthansa to the LBA should show that the Ukrainian government did indeed act in a timely manner.

According to the NGO’s information, obviously, the Ukrainian airlines were discriminated due to LBA’s move to defend the interests of German airline Lufthansa.

However, the discriminatory policy of Germany gave rise to a broad wave of public protests, which hampered not only the image of Lufthansa in the Eastern Europe, but also the foreign political authority p the whole Germany.

According to the information of the NGO, the Ukrainian sides has many times tried to settle the conflict at a table of negotiations, but the tough position of Germany ruled out the opportunity of reconciliation. In particular, the international talks at a high level, which were held on 8 February of 2007, brought no result.