Brussels, 12/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Transport ministers were able to reach agreement on the recast of the rail package, the revision of the tachograph directive and training for seafarers, when the Transport Council, the last under Polish Presidency, met on 12 December. They were by turns critical and cautious during an initial exchange of views on the Commission proposals for the completion of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) over the coming decades.
Recast of the rail package. The Council endorsed its political agreement on the recast of the rail package. This is in response to a Commission proposal which seeks to review and bring together three rail sector directives in order to ensure that the market is progressively opened up. The European Parliament (EP) adopted its first reading position last month. For the Council, it was a matter of dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s of its approach which has changed little since the first draft in June. The Council and EP must now come to a joint position during second reading procedure.
Delegations spoke to provide additional comments. Luxembourg said that, in its view, the approach to the opening up of the rail market recommended at this stage runs counter to the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity, and that it would be better to take account of the peculiarities of the member states and act with flexibility. This was a view shared by Austria which believed that the EU should only put in place framework conditions, leaving member states to manage their own rail sectors. It feared, too, a financial and organisational overload would result from the recast of the package.
Following the adoption of the political agreement by the Transport Council, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) commented that transport ministers had weakened infrastructure financing to too great an extent, when a properly functioning railway area cannot develop without a financially healthy environment.
Tachograph review. Ministers also reached agreement on a general approach, though only partial, on revision of the tachograph directive. The tachograph is an instrument fitted in road transport vehicles which records the length of time professional drivers are at the wheel or are resting. Use of tachographs means that balanced competition conditions can be put in place throughout the EU, and helps ensure the safety of all road users. However, the growing instances of fraud are limiting its effectiveness. The current regulation is being revised, for instance, through the use of digital tachographs and no longer manual instruments, to tackle the cheating.
What makes the agreed approach only partial is that it does not address the issue of merging the driving licence and the driver's card needed for the use of the tachograph (the exchange among drivers of their cards is a common way of cheating the system). At the Council, the Belgian and Dutch delegations repeated their opposition to this merging. The result of such a move, they say, would be a driving ban, pure and simple, for any driver caught committing a road offence, no matter the vehicle, even when it is being used for non-professional purposes.
The timescale for the introduction of the digital tachographs has been set at 40 months: the Commission would have liked this to have been shorter, but this was a timescale that France and Italy were happy with. Germany, on the other hand, would have liked it to be longer to make sure that the instruments fitted had all the latest technology and were, then, as accurate as possible. The German delegation also said it backed the use of GNSS technology to detect possible abuses, and, like Ireland, welcomed arrangements for data protection.
The issue of exemptions was also discussed. France said it was happy with the regime in place, Italy wanted fewer derogations, and Germany called for more exemptions, in particular for vehicles belonging to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) and operating within a radius of up to 150 kilometres and not less than 100 kilometres.
The penalties system was challenged by Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland which called for punitive measures to be proportional and dissuasive. The British delegation even proposed that this point be debated again at a later date.
Revision of the TEN-T. Little progress was made in Council discussions on the revision of the trans-European transport network, the Commission proposal having been received somewhat late in the day. Ministers, then, gave their first impressions so that the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU can draft a progress report. On behalf of the Presidency, Polish Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak recapitulated the concerns of the delegations. They are not unhappy with the vision of 10 corridors in a core network, linking the major European cities with one another and the main ports by 2030 and a comprehensive network covering all the regions of the EU by 2050. Some issues need to be examined more closely, however. The Irish minister felt that the proposal was too detailed, potentially making it inapplicable. The main worry for many delegations (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Czech Republic, Finland, Netherlands, Estonia) is compliance with the principle of subsidiarity. The member states, who are funding the infrastructure work, believe it is for them to choose the projects in the light of their own specific conditions and needs. Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said he understood these concerns but he called for the TEN-T revision to be viewed more broadly.
Some delegations (Germany and Hungary) were not altogether pleased with the introduction of a third layer in the spread of infrastructure across Europe, and some (Sweden, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary) with the increase in red-tape that might result from the revision. For a further set of countries (Netherlands, Latvia, Hungary and Portugal), cost was the problem. The United Kingdom said even that this was “THE” priority. The progress report begun by the Polish Presidency will be taken over and finalised by the incoming Danish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. Kallas regretted that it had not yet been possible to reach agreement and said that he was pinning his hopes on the Danish Presidency.
Agreement on seafarers. Ministers did not go far beyond the general approach agreed to amend the 2008 directive on the training of seafarers, and all were in favour of adoption of the international standards of the International Maritime Organisation convention. These relate to standards on medical fitness, fitness for duty, and alcohol abuse, safety training, certification and prevention of fraudulent practices relating to certificates. Only Malta declared itself relatively reluctant to send its statistical data to the Commission. Italy suggested to the Commission that it should bring all these amendments together in one single document before the end of next year to clarify the situation (codification).
Aviation in “Other Business”. The other business points, which referred largely to aviation with the Commission setting out its latest initiatives (airport package, single sky) for ministers, caused a bit of a stir. Finland called on the Commission to take stock of the latest developments in the emissions credits trading scheme which will be imposed on aviation in January, and which has created disarray in the international community. The Finnish delegation, like other voices that have been raised within the EU, fears reprisals from non-EU states. The Commission confirmed that bilateral talks were ongoing, but did not announce any new developments. (MD/transl.rt)