whilst it may be true that alot of EU regulation is about protecting 'legacy' interests in many industries, I don't think this is. I'm an employee of a legacy airline, but I also run my own business so I have an interesting perspective from both sides of the employee / employer fence. I've got no problem with competition, even hard-nosed cut-throat competition. What i do have a problem with, as do many, is trying to compete against someone who doesn't play by the rules. Ryanair do not pay their social contributions. (my employer not only pays my tax on a PAYE basis, but also pays 12odd % employers NI contribution - FR do not pay this.) FR also do not abide by many of the passenger compensation rules. Whilst most other airlines end up writing large cheques for volcanoes, ATC strikes etc etc, FR just shrug their shoulders and walk away.
By all means have FR as a pan-european airline , offering competion and choice for the customer, but we need the competitiion to be on a fair basis and level playing field.
I just wish the british government would have the plums to take them to task about the UK bases. All the retoric recently about tax-evasion coming out of whitehall could equally be applied to FR in the uk.