Strasbourg, 03/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The spectre of having to go to conciliation procedure for the recasting of the first railway package has now been eliminated. MEPs voted in favour of the report by Debora Serrachiani (S&D, Italy). This concludes two years of procedures, during which the rapporteur has experienced a tough clash of swords in her efforts to “put a bit of order” into the prevailing mess on the railways, as she described it. Nonetheless, adoption only just took place, because the amendments proposing exceptions in Poland and the Baltic states almost overturned the efforts being made to open up the railway market. Serrachiani was eager to get the recast adopted because this opens the way to a fourth railway package, which the Commission is still expected to propose this year.
Competition and transparency at last. The revision approved in the plenary by MEPs on Tuesday 3 July in Strasbourg, makes the railway sector more transparent and competitive. The European commissioner for transport, Siim Kallas was delighted that “these new rules will very significantly change the way competition works on the rail market. This is a very substantial step forwards. At last we can close loopholes in the current laws that can allow discrimination against newcomers and block operators from providing new and innovative services”. He was very pleased that Parliament went even further than the initial Commission proposals. Opening up the market will be guaranteed by a stronger independent national regulator. Transparency in infrastructure funding accounts will enhance the verification of separation of financial flows between infrastructure managers and railway undertakings. Market access conditions will no longer give preferential treatment to traditional operators over operators coming onto the market.
A few last-minute frights before fourth package. Last minute amendments, however, focusing on exceptions in Poland and the Baltic states almost brought down the structure erected by the institutions. Just the day before, Kallas had to plead with MEPs not to support these amendments, which would continue to fragment the European rail network. At the last minute before the vote, Serrachiani also urged her colleagues not to go down this road. Afterwards, she was relieved because “if they had been adopted, the recast would have been overturned and they would have had to have gone to conciliation for a referral at some unknown time in the future for the fourth package. This would have been a blow to railway transport.” The fourth railway package will include proposals needed to complete the recast, which contains an important rendezvous clause for the unbundling of rail operators and companies. The rapporteur explained that “the railways have been lagging behind and they need to catch up in a European perspective”. (MD/transl.fl)