It is no longer two, but three texts that the European Commission would like to see adopted in order to ensure the safety of the rail link between France and the United Kingdom, once the post-Brexit transition period is over.
In addition to the proposals for a Regulation and a Decision to maintain the security authority currently responsible for the Channel Tunnel (see EUROPE 12549/9), the Commission is now considering drafting a text on the settlement of potential infrastructure disputes.
“We realised that we also needed to make it possible for British people to be represented by British lawyers before the EU Court of Justice in the event of a dispute”, Elisabeth Werner, member of the European Commission’s Mobility and Transport Directorate-General, told MEPs on Parliament’s Transport Committee (TRAN) on Wednesday 2 September.
To this end, new legislation to expand the statute of the Court of Justice has proved necessary. However, the Court will have to be consulted before a proposal is drafted.
This third procedure, although it is likely to be lengthy, will not prevent the urgent adoption of the other two texts, Mrs Werner assured.
Indeed, if the EU wants to be able to avoid much-dreaded legal loopholes regarding the operation of the cross-Channel link, it will have to adopt these texts by 31 December next. The MEPs, who are also in favour of the Commission’s initiative, did not fail to point this out.
Preliminary consultations on the two proposals will take place “very soon” between the British and French authorities, announced Elisabeth Werner, mentioning mid-September.
Finally, the Commission did not rule out the possibility that the British might refuse to maintain the security authority in place since 1986.
“We have therefore also asked France to start working on contingency measures and to consider that, if such an agreement cannot happen, EU law and the French safety authority [will be] responsible for the French part of the tunnel”, she concluded. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)