During a meeting of the European Parliament's transport committee on Thursday 1 February, several MEPs demonstrated certain misgivings about the revision of the 1073/2009 regulation establishing common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services. This was proposed by the European Commission on 8 November last as part of the second "mobility" package (see EUROPE 11900).
It should be recalled that this draft regulation aims to liberalise coach and bus passenger transport. The opening up of the market has already been the subject of formal legislation in some member states, such as in France, but this liberalisation has not been introduced at a European Union level.
Roberts Zīle (ECR, Latvia), Parliament's rapporteur on this dossier immediately acknowledged that it was a very complex issue. This is partly due to different national interests and the fact that some member states have allocated regular routes to single companies on the basis of public service contracts. Luis De Grandes Pascual (EPP, Spain) shares Mr Zīle’s opinion and believes the Commission proposal is like a “bull in a china shop”. Following the line of De Grandes Pascuale, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE, Spain) also expressed scepticism about this proposal, particularly with regard to the subsidiarity and proportionality principles.
On the other hand, Dominique Riquet (ALDE, France) spoke in favour of liberalising the coach and bus transport market but said that a “balanced" solution was required in view of public service obligations.
Peter Kouroumbashev (S&D, Bulgaria) mainly focused on cabotage when opposing the draft text. On this point he was supported by Ms Bilbao Barandica. Under the terms of the Commission text, road hauliers would be allowed to freely operate on the territory of another member state, which is not currently the case. Although the European Commission would like to improve the rules on cabotage in the transport of goods, (see EUROPE 11799), MEPs are astonished by this liberalising approach for passenger transport. Mr Riquet expressed his concern in this regard.
The debates look like they are therefore going to be quite substantial. One parliamentary source also informed EUROPE that some MEPs are almost certainly expected to oppose the proposal. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)