At an informal meeting on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 February at Le Bourget (see EUROPE 12894/7), the Transport Ministers of the EU Member States discussed the various aspects of the ‘Fit for 55’ package presented by the European Commission on last 14 July 2021 (see EUROPE 12764/10).
A significant part of the discussions during the two days focused on the decarbonisation of the road sector (AFIR) (see EUROPE 12883/8). “A broad consensus has been reached for all Member States, such as on accelerating the deployment of charging stations for electric vehicles”, said the French Transport Minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
In this respect, some Member States - especially in the northern part of the EU - have renewed their willingness to keep some flexibility regarding the legal distances between charging stations (see EUROPE 12883/8).
“There is convergence on the ambitious objectives with adaptations to national and territorial specificities”, added Mr Djebbari, not closing the door, in this way, to the requests of certain Member States.
“In the north of our country, we have roads of several hundred kilometres that pass through only a few towns. A lack of flexibility could be nonsense”, the Finnish Transport Minister, Timo Harakka, told EUROPE.
In addition, the competent ministers also took stock of the different technologies available, their degree of maturity and their prices.
On this point, several Member States have argued for a strategy not to exclude some non-neutral, but cleaner technologies in the first instance.
“We can’t afford to rely only on electric or hydrogen for the near future. All possible approaches to promoting climate-neutral mobility should be considered”, said the German Transport Minister, Volker Wissing.
Maritime transport and aviation also on the agenda
The two texts on alternative fuels in the aviation (‘ReFuelEU Aviation’) (see EUROPE 12878/17) and maritime (‘FuelEU Maritime’) (see EUROPE 12892/33) fields were also discussed.
“Lengthy discussions on aviation” took place, Mr Djebbari said. In this respect, the focus was on the decarbonisation of the sector via new generations of aircraft.
Several Member States, following the publication of a joint letter on 1 February, reiterated their desire to be able to go further on alternative fuels for aircrafts (see EUROPE 12881/10).
In addition, the declaration by Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, on the initiative of the Austrian Transport Minister, Leonore Gewessler, on minimum prices in aviation, was also discussed. This declaration - which is still open to other Member States and whose publication date is not yet known - should lead to a reflection on putting more of the cost of tickets on passengers.
“There could be a regulation by introducing, for example, certain provisions so that charges and taxes also fall on passengers, which would allow for a better awareness of the real cost of flying”, she told EUROPE.
In the maritime sector, the French Minister also considered that “significant progress” had been made on the use of clean fuels, without giving further details. However, he stressed that this is one of the three texts on which the French Presidency of the EU Council wants to make progress before the end of its mandate, along with aviation and recharging infrastructure and alternative fuels for the road sector.
In addition to the issues of modal shift via night trains, long-distance trains and freight and the completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), which were also raised, the ministers returned as well on the need for better social regulation in the transport sector.
“We recalled the benefits of liberalisation, but also the problems. We recalled the contentious practices and discussed the solutions that can be brought, especially in a post-Covid and post-Brexit context, to restore healthy competition”, said Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)