While MEPs meeting in plenary session of the European Parliament are due to vote on Wednesday 17 April on the objection to the delegated regulation on the deployment and operational use of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS), those involved remain cautious about the outcome of the vote.
This vote on Wednesday echoes the adoption of the relevant delegated regulation by the European Commission on 13 March (see EUROPE 12213/37). Under the procedure, Parliament and the Council of the European Union have two months to oppose the entry into force of such a legal act.
On 8 April, Parliament’s ‘Transport’ Committee adopted the objection raised by Dominique Riquet (ALDE, France), which is why the dossier is being put to the vote at this plenary session (see EUROPE 12231/15).
This issue is of particular importance to the automotive sector. The use of C-ITS should contribute to making road transport safer by enabling vehicles and infrastructure to communicate. C-ITS should also make it possible in the future to develop connected mobility.
The central issue here is the choice of technologies for the deployment of C-ITS. The Commission wants to rely on Wi-Fi technology for short-range communications. This approach is supported by a number of Members and civil society stakeholders, but others want cellular technologies to be able to be used for this purpose. Lobbying campaigns have been quite sustained in recent weeks on this issue.
The political groups are largely divided on this issue, in particular because of the defence of national interests. This is one of the reasons why the players in Parliament will not formulate a definite prognosis before the vote on 17 April. Nevertheless, as an absolute majority must be obtained to oppose the delegated act (376 Members), the trend could be slightly in favour of this objection being rejected.
Council of the EU. At the Council of the EU, a discussion on this subject is planned in the working party on intermodal questions and networks on 3 May. If the objection were to be adopted by Parliament, however, this discussion would not be necessary since the delegated regulation would be rejected.
In a letter, the CEOs of BMW and Deutsche Telekom asked Berlin to oppose the act, as reported by Reuters. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)