As expected (see EUROPE 12268/6), on Thursday 6 June, the European Union Transport Ministers noted the progress made on several legislative issues, namely: the completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the rental of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road, road infrastructure user fees and rail passengers’ rights and obligations.
TEN-T. Concerning the streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of the TEN-T, echoing the European Commission's proposal of May 2018 as part of the third ‘mobility’ package (see EUROPE 12022/11), the progress report is in line with the text described in our columns (see EUROPE 12260/20).
While Bucharest has proposed establishing a directive and the Commission is proposing a regulation, it should be noted that Violeta Bulc, the Commissioner responsible for Transport policy, recalled during the debate that the directive does not seem to be an “appropriate” instrument for the institution.
Hired vehicles. As regards the progress report on Directive 2006/1/EC on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road (see EUROPE 12258/3), the discussions were not surprising. The dossier, which is part of the first ‘mobility’ package, has for many months been held hostage to developments concerning the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package (see EUROPE 12152/10, 12229/1).
While some delegations wanted to reach a political agreement (‘general approach’) at this meeting of the Council of the European Union, they did not obtain a majority to do so,
Infrastructure fees. The approval of a simple progress report on the revision of Directive 1999/62/EC on road infrastructure user fees was also almost certain (see EUROPE 12258/4).
A majority of Member States had indeed argued for more flexibility in relation to the Commission's recommendations during the discussions in the EU Council's working party on ‘land transport’ (see EUROPE 12239/25, 12232/17). This was reiterated by several delegations at the meeting on 6 June.
Rail passengers’ rights and obligations. Finally, the Ministers also noted progress on the recasting of Regulation 1371/2007 concerning rail passengers' rights and obligations, echoing the Commission's proposal of September 2017 (see EUROPE 11872/6). Few delegations took the floor during this relatively short debate. They referred to their support for the proposal, while pointing out that further work was still needed to reflect the realities in the sector.
On these four issues, the ball is now in the court of the future Finnish Presidency of the EU Council to try to reach a political agreement between the various national delegations. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)