Josip Bilaver, Croatian State Secretary at the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, outlined the priorities of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to the members of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee (TRAN) on Tuesday 21 January.
Intermodal transport. Mr Bilaver began by recalling Zagreb’s wish to complete the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) by finalising two legislative dossiers: the proposal for the rationalisation of measures to complete the TEN-T and the proposal for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the 2021-2027 financial period (see EUROPE 12396/9).
While the Presidency is ready to start interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) as soon as possible on the first dossier, the CEF dossier will be left pending until the negotiations in the EU Council on the EU’s 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) have been completed.
The text on combined transport also remains unclear. While trilogues had started in January 2019 (see EUROPE 12170/9, 12179/13), they were interrupted due to disagreements between Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on the negotiating mandate and, in particular, on exemptions from cabotage in international combined transport.
According to Mr Bilaver, while Zagreb is ready to relaunch negotiations in the EU Council, the European Commission would like to take the lead on this issue. Contacted by EUROPE, the latter simply stated that at this stage it “is examining all options in the combined transport dossier”.
Land transport. With regard to land transport, the Croatian Presidency will work to conclude the contentious dossier on the social and market aspects of the ‘Mobility Package I’, which was the subject of a provisional agreement between Parliament and the EU Council and is very close to being concluded (see other news).
Zagreb also hopes to reach a provisional agreement between the co-legislators on rail passenger rights (see EUROPE 12398/8). As announced by EUROPE, the first trilogue will be held on 28 January.
Now that a Parliament/EU Council agreement has been reached on the social and market aspects of the ‘Mobility Package I’, the Presidency plans also to reach political agreement in the EU Council (‘general approach’) on the cross-border hire of vehicles without drivers for the transport of goods (see EUROPE 12399/10).
Finally, the Croatian State Secretary regretted the lack of a general approach on road charges (‘Eurovignettes’) (see EUROPE 12382/9). He confirmed that consultations among States are underway to determine how to proceed with the dossier.
Air transport. On the aviation side, Zagreb will try to reach a general approach in the EU Council on air passenger rights on the basis of the recent study published by the Commission (see EUROPE 12405/15).
In addition, an Air Industry Summit will be held in Dubrovnik on 29-30 March.
Shipping. Finally, on the maritime front, Mr Bilaver announced that Zagreb will host an informal meeting of Member States’ ministers on 10-11 March particularly to discuss environmental protection, further digitisation, financing innovation and the competitiveness of the maritime sector. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)