Brussels, 29/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Community of European Railways (CER), one of the largest rail associations in Brussels, is next week to appoint its new executive director to replace Johannes Ludewig of Germany. Five candidates are in the running for the 3 May ballot: Ferdinand Schmidt, Rail Cargo (Austria) CEO; Libor Lochman of the Czech Republic, who is currently deputy CER executive director; Ad Toet of the Netherlands, who is the director of the transport employers' union (Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer); Jean-Marie Dancoisne of France, who is heads the Brussels SNCF office; and Jürgen Rüttgers of Germany, the former minister-president of the North Rhine-Westphalia region.
Far from being politically neutral, the election of the future executive director could have a considerable impact on the association's future policy - the opening up of passenger transport to competition, the independence of rail regulators, as well as the effective separation - backed by Paris as well as Berlin - of rail operators and infrastructure managers. The appointment of Rüttgers, an eminent politician and close to the German chancellery but without specific experience in the field of railways (which excludes him from the formal criteria applicable to candidates defined by the CER shareholders' assembly), is in this context seen as a German attempt to safeguard its hold on the largest rail lobby. Some say, therefore, that this could be severely damaging for the interests of the association, which sees itself as professional, private and independent of all political influence. Angela Merkel has personally approached her French counterpart on the subject of the vote, calling on him to withdraw the French candidate. (A.By./transl.jl)