With two weeks to go before Germany takes up its post at the head of the EU Council, Andreas Scheuer, the German Minister for Transport, presented, on Wednesday 17 June, his priorities for the sector and the areas of focus for his work for the next six months.
Obviously, these areas had to be reviewed somewhat in the light of the Covid-19 crisis. Mr Scheuer thus announced, in the very first minutes of his speech, his intention to draw up a “European emergency plan” for the cross-border movement of goods during a pandemic.
The Minister underlined the absence of such provisions and, stressing the difficulties encountered in recent months (see EUROPE 12452/14), undertook to work towards the introduction of uniform procedures in this area.
“I would like to define the main points of this plan at the informal meeting of Transport ministers in Passau at the end of October”, he said.
“New Mobility Approach”
On the broader transport front, the incoming German Presidency has defined a programme called the “New Mobility Approach” and will work with climate protection and digital transformation as its guiding principles, it said.
In particular, it will work to prepare the revision of the European directive (2014/94) on the deployment of an alternative fuel infrastructure (see EUROPE 12102/11), announced for 2021.
“We must work together to ensure that the planning of major cross-border transport projects is accelerated” (see EUROPE 12507/18), the Minister also said.
Mr Scheuer added that he wanted to find a balanced compromise on the revision of the Eurovignette Directive concerning the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of some kinds of infrastructure.
Difficult negotiations on this revision - toward which Germany has so far not always been particularly supportive - have been ongoing in the EU Council since 2017 (see EUROPE 12502/2).
“I would like to see a successful transition to climate-friendly vehicles, also through the adoption of a road user fee system that is based on CO2 emissions,”, the Minister said.
Presidency Meetings
It has already been agreed that the subject will be discussed at the next EU Council of European Transport Ministers (see EUROPE 12509/19), scheduled for the end of September.
Berlin hopes that a general approach can be found so that interinstitutional negotiations can begin around October, according to a ministerial source.
Finally, Mr Scheuer intends to organise a series of thematic meetings, “one for each mode of transport”, the conclusions of which will be presented at a second EU Council meeting scheduled for December.
He specifically mentioned summits on aviation for 23 July and in November.
Promising to work to make train travel more attractive and to make “rail a key element of the German New Mobility Approach”, he also announced that a conference on rail would be held in September, face-to-face, if possible. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)