The Member States discussed, on Wednesday 6 April, at a meeting of the Working Party on Transport - Intermodal Questions and Networks, the French Presidency of the EU Council (FPEU)’s compromise document on the EU guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).
In concrete terms, the FPEU made several clarifications, mainly semantic, concerning the provisions for smart and resilient transport and the implementation of transport corridors and horizontal priorities.
In addition to adding the notion of data sharing in the area of the use of new technologies, the compromise document tends to leave a little more room for Member States on certain points.
For example, Member States would no longer be obliged to “improve”, but to make “all possible efforts” to ensure the resilience and safety of transport infrastructure projects in the face of climate change, accidents, disasters or operational interruptions.
Similarly, for maintenance and the life cycle of a project, where Member States should not ensure a “similar level” throughout the existence of a project, but “a high level of service and safety adapted to the traffic flow”.
In terms of priorities and coordination of TEN-T corridors, the document states that the coordinators’ reports should be submitted annually to the European Parliament, the EU Council and the Commission.
The text also calls on coordinators to cooperate more closely with Member States in identifying priorities and investment needs.
Particular attention should be paid to the cross-border sections of the TEN-T in the coordinators’ action plans and the identification of priorities for the development of the corridors should be carried out with the Member States.
Finally, the Commission will have to adopt implementing acts for each of the corridor action plans. On this point, the compromise document provides for Member States to report every 2 years on the progress made in the implementation and development of infrastructure. The Commission’s original proposal was based on Member States providing an annual report.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/181 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)