Brussels, 21/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - On transport matters, the Irish Presidency will have its work cut out: priority will be given to the fourth railways package, the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), amongst other things. Whereas nearly 20 dossiers are on the decision-makers' table, Dublin has come down in favour of not adding any additional dossiers of national interest during this Presidency. The Irish Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar, presented his counterparts with his working programme for the first semester, at the “Transport” Council of Thursday 20 December.
The work under way constitutes a “highly technical legislative programme”, he told EUROPE. For this reason, “instead of adding national interests, we will instead conclude many dossiers as possible, and finish the negotiations”. He went on to add that this was the home straight before the European elections and the German elections, during which the institutions will have to remain focused.
At the top of Varadkar's list of ambitions are the guidelines on the TEN-T and the CEF, for which the Council has already reached an orientation (a partial one for the CEF), which will be used as the basis for institutional trialogue negotiations ahead of the adoption of these.
The other key dossier is the fourth railways package, which is to be presented by the Commission after the Christmas break (on 23 January). The proposal is a controversial one, and the Irish Presidency would therefore rather concentrate on the technical aspects and interoperability. This is to be discussed at the March and June Transport Councils, in order to agree on a general approach under the Irish Presidency. Varadkar is therefore planning to separate off the various parts of the package and not touch upon the sensitive issue of unbundling between the infrastructure managers and the service operators.
Among the other dossiers to be dealt with under the Irish Presidency, the Minister referred to the airport package, particularly the plank on stopover services, which is pending a re-examination in the Parliamentary committee. A general approach has already been agreed upon for this package. The Commission is to present initiatives on alternative fuels and passenger vessel safety, which the Irish Presidency also intends to deal with. Lastly, the negotiations under way on the revision of the tachograph are to be concluded.
In order to create coherence with the austerity measures recommended just about everywhere in Europe, the Presidency has opted not to hold an informal meeting of the transport ministers. However, several high-level meetings will take place under the Irish agenda. These will focus, amongst other things, on intelligent transport systems on the sidelines of the ERTICO international conference, and on road safety. This is particularly opportune as Ireland has recently jumped to fifth place in the classification table for the safest roads in Europe, and in view of the context of institutional negotiations on technical checks for vehicles. (MD/transl.fl)