Brussels, 28/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Siim Kallas, the transport commissioner, expressed his disappointment on Tuesday 27 November at the reticence of member states and the industry to open transport markets. So disappointed, in fact, is he that he revealed he is considering withdrawing his airports package. He was speaking to the audience at the Transport Business Summit, a prelude to the two-day conference on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) in Brussels (see related article).
“Transport is also one of Europe's few sectors which still has legal obstacles to market entry”, lamented the commissioner. That is why the Commission is seeking to create single transport areas and to “add competition into closed and protected markets, to raise efficiency and performance”. He noted that “Europe doesn't seem to be doing much to change things. We often encounter huge opposition to some of these ideas”. He bitterly regretted that “member states and vested industry interests together adopt a purely national, short-term perspective. This weakens what we are trying to do to build a genuinely efficient and smooth transport network in Europe”. He sees it in the railways, in ports and, even more, recently in airports. “After intense industry lobbying, our proposal on ground handling was rejected earlier this month by the European Parliament's transport committee. As a result, we may now have to consider withdrawing the entire airports package”, he said. The plenary session of the European Parliament will put the ground handling proposal to the vote in December. Depending on the outcome of that vote, the Commission will take its decision. (MD/transl.fl)