Brussels, 28/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - With just a few days to go until the presentation of the 4th railway package (very likely to be on 30 January), letters to the College of Commissioners are pouring in to ensure that the Commission stands firm against the pressure being exerted in its reform of the railway sector.
The 4th railway package is on the agenda of the College of Commissioners' meeting on Wednesday 30 January. If the Commissioners endorse the latest version on the table, it could be published on the same day.
Three organisations representing the interests of the railway freight sector are urging the Commissioners to put forward their reform as soon as possible and to resist pressure from member states (that is, Germany) and guarantee the separation of infrastructure operators from service providers, as planned.
Optional separation. In a letter to the commissioners, Tony Berkeley, Chairman of the British Rail Freight Group (RFG) refers to the internal market and asserts that the new proposals allow operators to maintain their holding organisations, making separation “optional” and thereby undermining one of the principles of the internal market. He also indicates that, at teh behest of the German Chancellor, drastic changes had been introduced in the proposal to take into account the interests of the German Deutsche Bahn, which would seriously distort the internal market. He argued that the need for separation had to be introduced at a European level, and also strict rules imposing separation of accounts and a ban on cross-funding. This argument is also put forward by the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA). In slightly more guarded terms, its chairman, François Coart, called on the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to explain himself in this connection. He alludes to “recent rumours and statements that suggest that the fourth railway package could be totally emptied of its substance: the economic, financial and legal independence of infrastructure managers”, stating, however, that “no regulator or legislation is able to ensure the appropriate opening up of the market, only a separation model”.
Barroso was also questioned that day by Wolfgang Meyer, the president of the Mofair Association, which represents private railway transport providers in Germany. Meyer is also angry at the pressure exerted by Deutsche Bahn to amend the text, so that holding models are still allowed, and vehemently criticised cross funding. He criticised the fact that “if the Commission shifts from its initial proposals, the single European market on the railways will already have become obsolete even before it gets off the starting blocks”.
Democratic deficit. Both Berkeley and Coart criticised the rather undemocratic approach adopted by the Commission in revising its draft, following the first presentation at the College and before discussion by the co-legislators, the European Council and European Parliament. Coart insisted: “This is a question of credibility for the Commission and coherence with other policy areas, such as energy… The package will, however, be discussed and probably amended during the normal legislative procedure”. Berkeley concluded his letter to the College with a question about who would defend the interests of European citizens if the Commission gave into national interests. (MD/transl.fl)