Individual European Union member states have the right to refuse access to their airspace but it was unclear why France and Portugal cancelled air permits for a plane carrying the Bolivian president Evo Morales, an EU Commission spokeswoman said. She told Reuters:

At the moment it is not entirely clear what happened this morning, why the French and Portuguese decided to divert the flight.

But she added that it was a sovereign responsibility of EU member states to decide whether to refuse access to an aircraft and the EU had no powers in the area.