Brussels, 14/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Many national parliamentarians, invited to take part in the discussions of the European Parliament transport and tourism (TRAN) committee on the cross-border dimension of the trans-European transport network TEN-T on Tuesday 13 October, expressed their concerns over the isolation of some remote regions in light of the proposed corridors.
In all, just under 40 parliamentarians from 14 countries, including Norway and Turkey, attended the meeting. Following a presentation on the TEN-T and its main financial instrument, the connecting Europe facility (CEF), by Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, numerous parliamentarians drew attention to the “grey areas” which will not be crossed by any of the nine corridors, often because of the low population density. Such is the case with the areas of the Far North and the Arctic Circle, as Finnish national MPs and MEP Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL, Finland) pointed out, though these are areas with real economic potential, they argued. The same is true of Ireland, national MPs said, where 95% of European funding will be allocated to the core TEN-T network and only 5% will go to the remainder of the network. Italian MPs at the meeting urged revision of routes in order to better integrate the south of the country, particularly the area around Naples. It was the same story from a Romanian MP, highlighting the isolation of the northern part of Romania.
Hand in hand with these concerns went the issue of re-drawing the proposed routes. A number of parliamentarians asked if any amendment was possible. A Slovenian MP called, for example, for the Western Balkans to be included in the corridors “to stabilise the region”. Olivier Onidi of the Commission's DG Transport said that amendment was planned to include this region.
The issue of railways was also raised. Mathieu Grosch, European coordinator responsible for the Orient-East Med corridor, said that the rail sector was disadvantaged, despite European joint financing which focused primarily on the inland waterway and rail networks. This was a view shared by a Latvian MP who pointed out that the Baltic States were not linked to Poland, only to Russia, and that, furthermore, there were technical obstacles, such as the gauge of the railways which varies from one country to another. Likewise a Swedish MP regretted that a funding transfer had not been possible in favour of the railways. “We've been trying for 30 years to improve the European network but it is still a patchwork”, complained Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA, Germany), picking up the words of the commissioner. He said that the railways remain at a disadvantage as they cannot compete in Europe with the road network, the taxation system for which differs from one country to another, making it more competitive. He argued that there had, consequently, to be fair competition between the two modes of transport, “otherwise we will never give the railways a chance or, for that matter, tackle climate change” (our translation). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)