Brussels, 04/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - An agreement is believed to be in sight on the European boost to alternative fuels. The institutional trialogue negotiations scheduled for late afternoon on Wednesday 5 March could well be the last ones. The points which have still to be negotiated are, however, sizeable ones. These include the date for the establishment of a network of recharging infrastructure and the objectives regarding the stations for each type of fuel.
The proposal provides for the member states to create a network of charging infrastructure for substitute fuels such as electricity, gas or hydrogen, used instead of petrol in transport. The Council and the Parliament are believed to be very close to an agreement on a version of the European Commission's initial draft, which has been considerably watered down. The schedule tabled by the Commission, which contains objectives for each member state to comply with by 2020, is not expected to be retained. However, according to a source close to the dossier, it is still likely that the member states will have to submit their own binding objectives to the Commission. The negotiators are believed to be in favour of keeping the provisions for the standardisation and type of recharging sockets for electric vehicles, as proposed by the Commission.
One sensitive issue which has still to be discussed is that of the time which will be granted to the member states to complete their recharging infrastructure networks. The Commission would like to stick to the deadline of 2020, but the Council would prefer to push it back to 2030 (see EUROPE 10978). However, it should be an adjustment variable, according to the rapporteur for the European Parliament, Carlo Fidanza (EPP, Italy). He suggested the possibility of staggered deadlines for the different types of fuel (see EUROPE 110971). The figures on establishing the networks have still to be discussed and will include the number of kilometres between recharging stations, for example. Lastly, there are some unresolved institutional questions.
Although an agreement at trialogue is likely, a subsequent date for a further trialogue session could, however, be a possibility. (MD)