Brussels, 27/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's scrutiny of member states' application of European legislation has revealed a lack of determination in this regard by Belgium, Hungary and Ireland in the transport arena. Each of these countries has therefore received a reasoned opinion from the Commission, requiring them to communicate the measures taken to comply with European law in the next two months. If this Sword of Damocles (the second stage of the infringement procedure) falls, the Commission will go to the European Court of Justice which could then impose financial penalties on the recalcitrant member states in question.
Belgian airports. Black marks for Belgium. It has not fully applied Regulation 1794/2006 which requires member states in the EU to introduce a common system for pricing aviation services. According to the system, member states should have set out, from 1 January 2010, a single rate for air terminal fees. Belgium has not informed the Commission of the unit fee it is using and has continued to make airlines pay particularly high fees, according to the Commission, with regard to the size of the Belgian airspace.
Hungarian driving licence. Hungary has failed to adapt its national legislation to Directive 2006/126/EC, which harmonises driving licences in Europe, as it was required to do by the start of this year. Harmonising driving licences helps to ensure the free movement of EU drivers, their safety and reduce the risk of fraud being committed. It is, therefore, essential that Hungarian authorities do everything in their power to restrict the possibility of their nationals exchanging their driving licences for the licences of other countries or for Europeans to exchange their driving licence for a Hungarian one.
Eurovignette in Portugal. Portugal is also in the European Commission's sights because it is not fully applying the « Eurovignette » directive (Directive 1999/62/EC). This imposes a tax on heavy goods vehicles when they use certain infrastructure. Portugal, however, has a system that leaves concession toll systems completely out sideteh scope of the directive. The Eurovignette directive has also established a methodology for calculating motorway tolls since 2008. Portugal has still not sent information to the Commission on the calculation of the tolls for newly introduced tolling arrangements. (MD/transl.fl)