On Wednesday 8 November, Violeta Bulc, the European Commissioner for Transport, Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union, Miguel Arias Cañete, Commissioner for Energy and Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the Commissioner for the internal Market presented their proposals for a second “mobility” package, following the presentation of the first package on 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799).
The proposals last May particularly focused on social questions, whereas this raft of text seeks to promote clean transport. During a joint press conference, Ms Bulc welcomed a package that addressed “European needs” regarding the climate and air quality, as well as the urgent reforms “to speed up the transition to low emission mobility”. This is despite the fact that the road transport sector is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions and pollutants in the Union.
Forthcoming clarifications on subsidies to combined transport. Among the legislative proposals presented by the mobility services and transport directorate general (DG MOVE) at the European Commission in this second “mobility” package, together with the one presented by the climate directorate on emissions (see other article), the revision of the 92/106/EEC directive aims to improve the effectiveness of public subsidies that support combined freight transport. References to combined transport are made when a freight operator uses, for a single journey, a road transport vehicle for merchandise and an alternative and cleaner mode of transport (rail, inland waterway or maritime transport).
The 92/106/EEC directive is currently the only legal instrument used for subsidising this kind of transport in the Union. It has displayed a number of efficiency shortcomings and according to the Commission, this is why it is proposing to revise it.
Since the definition of combined transport operations benefiting public subsidies and targeted in this text can appear ambiguous, the Commission is proposing simplification. Therefore, the share allocated to road transport cannot exceed 150 km or 20% of the total distance, if this share is over 150 km, exceptions have been suggested for remote regions.
The Commission is also proposing to provide an exhaustive list of documents that a transport handler should produce in order to prove that their operation is indeed part of combined transport and therefore eligible for subsidies. The Commission is also looking at the possibility of the member states providing it with reports every two years on combined transport on their respective territories.
The Commission would also like to impose a number of measures on the member states, if necessary, to support investment in transhipment terminals, which would be the subject of coordination between neighbouring countries and itself. The member states would be able to take additional measures in an effort to support the competitiveness of combined transport operations.
The last important measure advocated by the Commission includes setting up one or several authorities by a member state in an attempt to ensure the effective implementation of the directive. These authorities would be obliged to cooperate with third-party authorities and the Commission.
Strengthening international car and coach passenger transport. As explained by EUROPE on 31 October last (see EUROPE 11895), the Commission would like to simplify International car and coach passenger transport as a means of supporting the development of inter-urban transport.
The flagship measure consists of a proposal to set an independent authority in every member state for the road passenger transport sector. This will be done to help limit conflicts of interest when studies are carried out to decide whether a public transport contract has been compromised by the potential authorisation of access to a road terminal. The decisions taken by this authority are expected to be binding.
The European Commission would also like to reform the process for authorising regular transport services. Therefore, for an international transport service of less than 100 km as the crow flies, a response to a request for authorisation is expected to be provided by the independent authority within a four-month timeframe. Also, excluding procedural errors or infringements to national or Union legislation, authorisation cannot be refused unless the service proposed is likely to, “compromise the economic equilibrium of an existing public service contract”. This latter possibility would not, on the other hand, apply to international services of more than 100 km. The same provisions are expected to be included for regular national services but the 100 km threshold could be extended to 120 km if the departure and arrivals locations are already subject to more than one public service contract.
Increasing use of clean vehicles in public procurement. Following an announcement by EUROPE on 6 November last (see EUROPE 11898), the European Commission is proposing to revise the 2009/33/EC directive, in an attempt to improve the public procurement of clean vehicles in the public markets.
The expanded scope of application has been confirmed and the Commission is suggesting in its text that all public procurement, such as rent, lease and hire-purchase contracts will now apply the provisions of the text, whereas only purchasing contracts have so far been affected.
In an effort to make the notion of “clean vehicles” more legible throughout the European Union, the Commission is proposing to provide clearer definitions for this term according to the type of vehicle concerned (passenger cars, light duty vehicles, buses and heavy-duty vehicles). This definition would also depend on the CO2 emitted per kilometre. With regard to heavy-duty vehicles, the Commission would like to be able to adopt delegated acts for upgrading CO2 emissions and pollutants thresholds that are used in descriptions of “clean” vehicles.
The Commission is also proposing an obligation on the public authorities to procure a certain percentage of clean vehicles in proportion to the total fleet. This percentage will vary from member state to member state and will take into account a number of different factors.
Up to €800 million will be available for rollout of alternative fuel infrastructure. As announced by EUROPE on 3 November last (see EUROPE 11896), the European Commission could also allocate up to €800 million to help support member states roll out alternative fuel infrastructure on their territory. Although this rollout has made significant progress over recent years, the Commission would like to speed it up as part of the Trans- European Transport Network (TEN-T) in urban and suburban areas. The Commission has also taken note of the extremely wide range of measures taken by the member states, despite the obligations incumbent on them under directive 2014/94/EU.
The Commission has adopted an energy neutral approach and will initially release €350 million in addition to what has already been paid out, through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) by spring 2018. This is expected to generate €1.9 billion in investments. Up to €450 million can then be allocated to the NER300 Programme to complete this first envelope. The Commission will also provide technical expertise and logistical support to the public authorities to help implement this alternative fuel infrastructure rollout. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)