Brussels, 29/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The technical pillar of the fourth railway package became the subject of an exchange of views for the first time among MEPs during the European Parliament's transport committee (TRAN) meeting on Wednesday 29 May. The safety and inter-operability of railways in Europe were discussed, together with the recasting of several legislative texts and increasing the powers of the European Railway Agency (revision of Regulation 881/2004). It is all intrinsically linked if there is to be an end to the patchwork of the lengthy and costly approval procedures for rolling stock and creation of a single, efficient and more competitive single railway market.
The European Commission proposals on the European Railway Agency (ERF) in the fourth railway package suggest expanding its responsibilities, so that it acts as a one-stop shop for awarding market authorisations and safety certification for operators. The rapporteur on the subject, Robert Zile (ECR, Latvia) suggested proposing two possible solutions: a certificate delivered by the ERF that is valid throughout Europe or a certificate awarded by a national agency when only one border is crossed. Zile also underlined the importance of a transition period for extending the functions of the agency, as in the case with aviation (where the Commission envisages an increase in powers over four years). He also called for certain isolated markets to be taken into account, such as those in the Baltic countries and Finland. Dominique Riquet (EPP, France) expressed concern at the lack of resources made available to the ERF for assuming its new functions.
The expanded remit of the agency is expected to significantly help towards developing the inter-operability of the railways in Europe. On this subject, rapporteur Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE, Spain) pointed out that it would be necessary “to define protocols for procedures and common standards and avoid new rules”. He added that no more exceptions should be allowed and that it had to be ensured that member states applied the rules properly. Zile said that there was a need to “tackle the phenomenon of national agencies restricting access to their markets” by way of introducing more transparent procedures.
On the chapter on safety, rapporteur Michael Cramer (Greens, Germany) said that the safety certificate proposed by the Commission presupposed that “companies master the process and have the material and equipment required”. He wanted to know whether this was an adequate guarantee for ensuring that what is in place functions well and that the people carrying out the tasks in this respect are well trained. He suggested that, “there's no such thing as 100% safety but we do want maximum safety and no revision of standards downwards”. Ines Ayala Sender MEP (S&D, Spain) regretted that safety was still “brandished as an alibi by national operators to impose restrictions”. She added that it was therefore necessary to ensure coherency between this legislation and inter-operability rules. (MD/transl.fl)