Dick Gilbert, chairman, BACA.

EU red tape may be the price to pay

Knowledge and expertise is valuable and many charter brokers earn repeat business because they know their local market. The big brokers use their international networks to provide local knowledge and service around the world.

So how many charter brokers in the 27 diverse and disparate countries that make up the European Union favour their nation's continuing membership?

For many it is a question of being free to do the best job possible for their clients without being burdened by unnecessary bureaucracy.

The British, for instance, insist on their own time zone, many of their own archaic scales of measure-ment, and (for now, at least) their own currency. But what they do share with their European colleagues is a herd of unelected officials engaging in unbidden legislative activities in Brussels and Strasbourg at great expense. So would UK charter brokers favour breaking away from the EU? Opinion polls show a surprising 40 per cent of the public in favour of leaving and presumably there would be a significant percentage of charter brokers that feel the same.

An EU member state can withdraw if it gives adequate warning - there's an agreed procedure for it, and one country actually did it (those with an itching curiosity can look up who it was, but there are no prizes).

But what would be the consequences if a nation such as the UK did quit? For a start, inter-European travel could be more complicated. Many passengers that fly to Europe are going there to study, to stay in holiday homes, to retire, or to work. Without the freedom of movement and activity that Europe currently allows, many of those reasons for travel could be curtailed, or at least seriously reduced. For example, the introduction of work permits, resid-ence permits or visas would be bound to slow the currently healthy inter-European passenger traffic.

Air services would probably once again be governed by bilateral trade agreements, and one might think that European operators would not be particularly amenable to letting British airlines run around their countries in the way they do today. On the other hand, the present network of cheap flights within the region is not a product of Brussels, but of a host of individual agreements.

EU proponents often claim that Open Skies policies within the EU led to a huge increase in bums on seats, and directly to the growth in low-cost air travel. Yet it is, for example, quite straightforward to fly from the UK with easyJet to Turkey or Switzerland, or with Ryanair to Morocco or Norway - none of whom are EU member states. So the inference is that the growth was business-led and nationally-agreed rather than a result of EU policy; and it's reasonable to assume that such international collaboration would continue if Britain left the EU.

It's unlikely that a Britain outside Europe would have any less clout when, for example, negotiating air service rights with the USA. Indeed the US might prefer to deal with one country at a time, as might many other nations. And the UK surely has enough status (sixth largest world economic power, admittedly with Germany and France ranking fourth and fifth) and global reach to continue to negotiate reciprocal air service agreements with other international partners.

In any case, if Britain left the EU, it would still remain a member of the European Economic Area which links all countries in the region for trading purposes, and the European Free Trade Association still exists, although only a handful of nations still belong to it. Most countries who are not in the EU try very hard to adhere to the EU directives for business and commercial reasons.

The Schengen Agreement, first implemented in 1985 to simplify border controls between partici-pating countries, was not an EU creation at its outset (too many Community members refused to sign it) and, although its terms have now been enshrined in EU law, it still has members who are not in the Union. So, although Britain is not a full-blown member of Schengen ('partial' acceptance - the awkward guys as usual), this is another area in which Britain could continue to participate even if it left Europe.

But would charter brokers benefit? Their outlook is international and, if they do business in Europe, they will have to abide by EU rules.

Despite all the hot air and Euro-scepticism, I doubt that any party capable of attaining power would dare to take Britain out of Europe. So presumably one can look forward to a future in which we continue periodically to elect anti-Europeans as MEPs, enabling them to achieve nothing in Brussels other than claim expenses and, one trusts, fill occasional airline seats.

One just hopes that the European Commission will show more sense in encouraging entrepreneurs such as charter brokers rather than continuing to complicate business with unnecessary red tape. Dick Gilbert, chairman, BACA