The Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and representatives of the European Parliament met for the first time on Wednesday 11 July in the presence of Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc in trialogue interinstitutional talks on the draft directive on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems (‘télépéage’), displaying a desire it reach agreement by the end of the year.
This desire, over and above any practical considerations, aims above all to send a positive signal in the talks on the first ‘mobility’ package. The draft directive, formulated by the European Commission on 31 May 2017 as part of this package of proposals (see EUROPE 11799), is the only one that is taking concrete shape. The European Parliament and Council of the European Union effectively adopted their negotiating positions in recent weeks (see EUROPE 12026, 12036), but the talks on the social and road transport market aspects have been going in circles on both sides (see EUROPE 12055).
This first trialogue meeting mostly had the aim of defining working methods to be used during the next few months. A second policy meeting, which will get down to the core issues, was programmed for the end of September, but the exact date has not yet been set. At least two technical meetings will take place after the summer break before the September meeting.
Several technical questions have been raised by the parties in attendance. It needs to be decided which elements of Decision 2009/750/EC of the Commission of October 2009 on the definition of European electronic road toll systems and their technical aspects are to be induced in the final text.
On the political side, the question of exchange of information in the event of someone failing to pay road tolls in a member state needs to be settled. On this point, Parliament has a firmer position than the Council of the EU. Including manual payments in the scope of application of the text concerning the exchange of information is expected to be enacted by the negotiations although the practical details have yet to be defined. The question of remuneration for EETS providers is also on the negotiating table.
Finally, it appears hat two or three political meetings may suffice for concluding the interinstitutional negotiations. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)