On Thursday 9 December, the Transport Ministers of the EU Member States will discuss the ‘Fit for 55’ package presented by the European Commission on 14 July. This package of legislation is intended to achieve a 55% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (see EUROPE 12762/1).
At the Transport Council, the Slovenian EU Council Presidency will present the state of play of the dossier to the relevant ministers and will then go into detail on several of its components.
The ministers will discuss the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure for vehicles. The distribution of charging stations and the timing of the charging stations should also be discussed (see EUROPE 12807/6).
These aspects are also part of the discussions in the European Parliament. A number of MEPs on the Parliament’s Transport Committee highlighted on 1 December the differences between Member States in terms of infrastructure for alternative fuels (see EUROPE 12844/23).
Part of the discussion also focused on the criteria for installing charging stations. The European Commission proposes that these should be no more than 60 kilometres apart within the EU. Some MEPs stressed the need to take better account of geography and population density in these criteria. This vision could be supported by several ministers on 9 December.
Aviation and maritime sector on the agenda
Further discussions are also planned on the ‘ReFuelEU aviation’ and ‘ReFuelEU maritime’ components of the ‘Fit for 55’ package (see EUROPE 12762/7). These texts should enable the aviation and maritime sectors to contribute to achieving the climate and environmental objectives set by the European Commission.
For aviation, the text includes provisions to increase the share of renewable fuels through a gradual increase in taxation for the more polluting fuels and the introduction of clean - or directly produced - electrical capacity for aircraft on the ground.
Other standards are also planned to limit ‘tankering’, where airlines carry tonnes of excess fuel to avoid refuelling at European airports, where legislation may be stricter than in some third countries.
For the maritime sector, the European Commission has set the objective, among others, that the infrastructures and seaports of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) will have to install electricity to meet the demand of at least 90% of the container and passenger ships calling on them.
Finally, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU will brief the Ministers on a number of issues. In addition to the directive on the use of hired vehicles (see EUROPE 12833/32), an update will be given on the ‘Single European Sky’ dossier (see EUROPE 12845/10).
The future French Presidency of the EU Council, which will begin on 1 January, is also expected to set out its programme and priorities. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)