On Monday 22 January, a majority off MEPs meeting at the European Parliament’s transport committee gave their backing to the draft report by Christine Revault d’Allonnes-Bonnefoy (S&D, France) on the revision of the 1999/ 62/EC directive (see EUROPE 11940).
It should be recalled that this draft report is part of the first "mobility" package presented by the European Commission on 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799). Although the Commission's proposal is seeking to put a stop to the time-based vignette system and encourage the member states to opt for a toll booth system based on distance, Ms Revault d’Allonnes-Bonnefoy is presenting a more ambitious draft, which appears to go all the way with the objective as proposed by the Commission and is based on the "user pays” and "polluter pays" principles.
After a brief presentation during which the MEP indicated that she wanted to rename the text the “Eurocharge directive" and not the “Eurovignette directive" because the text sought to put a stop to this letter system, her colleagues provided their comments on her draft report.
Georges Bach (EPP, Luxembourg) was keen to congratulate the rapporteur on her very ambitious text. Despite a few disagreements and questions, particularly involving secondary routes and rebates for regular users, he said that he was confident about the possibility of reaching a compromise. Pavel Telička (ALDE, Czech Republic), speaking on behalf of Dominique Riquet (ALDE, France), also welcomed the quality of the draft report. Peter van Dalen (ECR, Netherlands) expressed a few reservations about the expansion of the scope of the current directive and the securisation of motorway parking.
Only Marie-Christine Arnautu (ENF, France) and Jacqueline Foster (ECR, UK) provided some strong criticism of the proposal and draft report, particularly in connection with the subsidiarity principle.
Eddy Liegeois, the head of unit at directorate general mobility and transport (DG MOVE) at the European Commission was invited to respond and he was keen to congratulate the rapporteur and pointed out that this proposal was better than the proposal put forward by his own institution.
Despite a number of reservations expressed by eurosceptic political forces, the discussions between the shadow rapporteurs and different groups in view of developing a compromise are therefore expected to be conducted in a calm atmosphere over the next few months. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)