Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - During a public hearing on Tuesday 7 May, members of the European Parliament's committee on transport (TRAN) put questions relating to the fourth railway package to experts representing passengers (FNAUT), railway workers (ETF), railway operators (CER) and infrastructure managers (EIM). Presented earlier this year, the legislative package relates, among other things, to opening up the domestic passenger market and to railway governance. Announced as a reform, it should contribute to completing the European single railway area.
Debates between stakeholders and MEPS have allowed review of railway management, the domestic passenger market, the quality of service, interoperability between national networks, the role of the Community of European Railways (CER) and decent working conditions.
Uncoupling. It comes as no surprise that the debate returned on several occasions to unbundling between infrastructure managers and service operators. For the Liberals, Philip de Backer (ALDE, Belgium) reaffirmed that unbundling was indispensable, an opinion supported by Briton Tony Berkely, who heads the Rail Freight Group. Isabelle Durant (Greens, Belgium) and Mauro Moretti, who is president of the CER, and Sabine Trier, the deputy secretary general of the European Transport Federation (ETF) were, on the contrary, critical of this way of thinking. Mathieu Grosch, the rapporteur on opening up the domestic passenger market, raised the question of financial flows in integrated structures.
Public service. The question of public service also cropped up many times, especially to ensure that the less profitable rail routes are preserved so that European regions are fully criss-crossed by rail services. Calls for tenders or the granting of direct contracts were also discussed, with Said El Khadraoui (S&D, Belgium), who is the rapporteur on governance and the opening up of the domestic passenger market, saying it was necessary to strike a balance between economic incentives and protection of public service by also taking into account the large number of workers. He notes that, generally speaking, the Commission has neglected the social aspects in its proposals. Trade unions are calling for job security as they fear that, during calls for tenders, personnel costs will be the adjustment variable. They refuse to allow workers to be the competitive component.
Regulatory big bang. Durant also deplored the fact that the Commission had not drawn any lessons from liberalisation, especially in the United Kingdom. She felt that the recast first railway package has not yet been applied and the move has already begun towards a regulatory “big bang” with the fourth railway package. Several experts and MEPs have, moreover, evoked the importance of legislative stability, and homogeneous application of rules throughout Europe. For this, they prefer stronger national regulators and networking.
The first reports on the fourth railway package should be presented in July, with the vote in committee in November and during the January plenary. (MD/transl.jl)