Brussels, 21/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - A battle between the institutions is in the offing, with the launch by the European Parliament of its examination of the proposed directive on the European railway area (EUROPE 10217). The members of the "Transport" committee will hold their first exchange of views on this text on Tuesday 25 January, on the basis of the initial remarks by the Italian member Deborah Serracchiani (S&D). Ms Serracchiani, who is the rapporteur for the EP, stresses the need to create a proper railway market at European level and proposes the unbundling of the infrastructure managers and the transport operators.
The proposed directive, presented by the European Commission last September, is a revision of railway package, which aims to boost the competitiveness of rail, by means of better regulation at European level allowing the sector to be opened up to competition in a fair way. In a working document which will be put to the MEPs on Tuesday, however, Ms Serracchiani argues that the proposals made by the Commission do not go far enough to ensure the fair and non-discriminatory treatment of all operators. Her opinion differs from that of the Commission over one issue in particular, which is the separation of infrastructure management and the operation of transport services. Whereas the Commission is proposing a separation in terms of accounts alone, the EP supports the opinion expressed by the Parliament: she stresses the need for an unbundling of the infrastructure managers and the transport operators. Whether certain Member States like it or not, the Parliament must look at how this unbundling could be brought into operation on the rail market, Ms Serracchiani notes in her report. She also stresses that the Parliament should hold a debate on creating a "genuinely European" railway market model, based on "a small number of clear and transparent rules, bringing about uniform rules across the EU". The MEP is also of the opinion that the Commission was not "too ambitious" in defining the conditions for access to services and infrastructure. She also spoke out against the fact that the Commission has not decided to propose an integrated European system for monitoring the railways, modelled on the systems which exist in the other liberalised sectors: energy and telecommunications. She therefore proposes that the competencies of the national control bodies be extended and reinforced, making them responsible, amongst other things, for checking safety standards or other national technical standards related to the non-discriminatory access to the railway markets. (A. By./trans.fl)