Brussels, 14/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Although the last institutional trialogue on recasting the first railway package ended in a somewhat hazy manner on Wednesday 13 June, the rapporteur for this subject, Debora Serracchiani (S&D, Italy), confirmed on Thursday 14 June, that agreement had been reached on the text. The spectre of conciliation has therefore been avoided, and it will be up to the Council and Parliament to ratify the agreement soon. The European Parliament will adopt Serracchiani's draft report in second reading during the next plenary session, in July. “The Parliament has made its voice heard. We reached a good compromise which foresees substantial improvements to the first railway package”, the rapporteur is pleased to point out.
The rapporteur welcomes the fact that, among the latest achievements reached in trialogue, there are shorter deadlines for the establishment of independent regulators, and for the strengthening of the regulatory body. Also, the deadline for filing a complaint with these bodies should be limited to six weeks (and to 16 in total in the case of appeal).
Nonetheless, the lengthy and risky negotiations held on recasting the railway package appear to be no more than an “appetiser” alongside the fourth railway package which is taking shape, as Brian Simpson (S&D, UK), who chairs the parliamentary committee on transport, put it. This did not prevent Socialist MEP Saïd El Khadraoui (Belgium) from saying, however: “We are looking forward to the fourth Railway Package to bring more dynamism to the whole sector and to make sure that it will be as competitive as road and aviation”. (MD/transl.jl)