asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the prospects for agreement on liberalisation of European air services at next week's meeting of European Community transport Ministers.

I hope that further progress towards liberalisation will be made next week when we will be giving our full support to the Belgian presidency's efforts to achieve this. The major sticking point remains the unwillingness of others to widen the availability of cheap fares. This must be satisfactorily resolved before an agreement can be reached.