Brussels, 23/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - An agreement at second reading on the revision of the railway package is making good progress, but there are still large areas in suspense. The Council and Parliament have still to find common ground over the regulator and the essential functions, amongst other things. On Monday 23 April, the rapporteur on the subject, Debora Serracchiani (S&D, Italy), presented her colleagues at the parliamentary committee on transport and tourism (TRAN) with the latest progress in talks with the Council with a view to a second-reading adoption of the revised railway package. The next trialogue session is scheduled for 9 May, the committee's vote for 21 May and the plenary vote for 12 July.
The discussions are still making good progress on appointing the regulator. The Council would prefer the national government to appoint the body, whereas the Parliament would prefer this to come under the remit of an independent national authority. However, Serracchiani has not lost hope of reaching an agreement, because there is already one on the rest of the text regarding the regulator. Much work also remains to be done on the subject of funding, with the EP waiting for proposals from the Council. There is, though, one area of agreement on the duration of the multi-annual contract, which will be five years (midway between the seven years and favoured by the Council and three years preferred by the EP). There are also many points of agreement on the subject of the essential functions of the infrastructure manager, but the EP has not yet been able to get the Council on board to support the inclusion of maintenance among these tasks. Lastly, Serracchiani is optimistic at the possibility of reaching consensus on noise emissions, the traffic monitoring system (ERTMS) and the railway monitoring system (ETCS), and on the claims procedure (the timescale for producing documents is still in suspense). Some MEPs are concerned as to whether the issue of decoupling is being correctly handled by the Commission in the fourth railway package, and whether this will see the light of day this year. The Commission has stated that an impact assessment is underway and that proposals will be made in December. (MD/transl.fl)