Brussels, 17/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEPs from the transport and tourism committee of the European Parliament are preparing to put the final touches to the forthcoming orientations for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Will they be drawing up a list of Christmas presents? The authors of the report and the president of the TRAN committee have warned their colleagues on many occasions against any political amendments that target projects in their remit.
Out of 1,000 amendments, the rapporteurs Ismail Ertug (S&D, Germany) and Georgios Koumoutsakos (EPP, Greece) were able to negotiate 52 compromise amendments. Among the remaining amendments are 300 that still aim to integrate regional or national projects into the cartography of the central network of the future TEN-T in 2030 (comprehensive network in 2050). Nonetheless, the rapporteurs had to continually remind their colleagues to remain loyal to the very elaborate methodology advocated by the Commission for selecting projects. Since the beginning of the negotiations, they have been hammering home the message that added European value should prevail over national interests. In this connection, Ertug hoped that the compromise amendments would be adopted, even though obtaining a majority still remained uncertain before the vote.
The issue that could still prove controversial involves navigable rivers. MEPs have already discussed this subject at length and have been torn between the wish to multiply the use of rivers and canals in Europe and the need to respect environmental requirements. According to Parliamentary sources, a balanced approach is expected to be obtained to this end.
MEPs could also possibly vote to strengthen the role of the coordinators of the ten corridors in an effort to implement the project. They will also attempt to ensure that the ecological footprint is appropriately taken into account in the selection of the projects funded under the TEN-T framework. Finally, the amendments on the table are expected to take civil society more into account upstream of infrastructure work, in an effort to avoid local mass protests once a project has begun. To this end, MEPs may call on the Commission to present good practices on the subject in the course of 2013.
The voting session on TEN-T orientations will be preceded by another vote on the future of transport and funding its infrastructure: the interconnection mechanism for Europe will be subject to a vote by MEPs at the transport (TRAN) and industry (ITRE) committees. (MD/transl.fl)