Sweden’s Minister for Infrastructure and Housing in charge of Transport, Andreas Carlson, presented the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council’s priorities for the first half of 2023 to the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport on Tuesday 31 January.
Thus, the Swedish Presidency’s mandate at the head of the EU Council should first largely focus on the various parts of the ‘Fit for 55’ package currently under interinstitutional negotiation (‘trilogues’), such as ‘ReFuelEU Aviation’ (see EUROPE 13052/19), ‘FuelEU Maritime’ (see EUROPE 13047/10) and the Regulation for the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure (‘AFIR’) (see EUROPE 13046/12).
Two trilogues have already taken place on the ‘FuelEU Maritime’ component. Agreements were reached on the geographical scope, types of vessels, regulations for large ports and essential procedures for monitoring and reporting.
Discussions will still have to be held at the next trilogue on 16 February in Strasbourg on greenhouse gas intensity limits, sub-quotas and penalties.
With regard to the ‘AFIR’ Regulation, two trilogues have also already taken place. Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed on several points, notably the scope of the whole text.
However, discussions will still have to take place on the levels of ambition for recharging infrastructure and the payment methods for electric vehicle recharging.
The EU Council and Parliament will also have to agree on the issue of monitoring and reporting. Faced with very different national situations within the EU, some Member States are advocating voluntary reporting. For Parliament, reporting should be “strict and mandatory”, said rapporteur of the dossier Ismail Ertug (S&D, German).
Finally, discussions will also continue on the ‘ReFuelEU Aviation’ dossier. At the last trilogue on 8 December, no agreement could be reached - at the end of the night - despite 10 hours of negotiations.
The balance will have to be achieved on definitions, revenues or, among others, national mandates. “Ideas were put forward, packages, but none of the proposals were satisfactory”, said José Ramón Bauzá Díaz (Renew Europe, Spanish).
TEN-T, ITS, ‘Single Sky’ and tourism
In addition, the work of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU will focus in the first half of 2023 on the revision of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) (see EUROPE 13080/12). “We are ready to start negotiations as soon as Parliament has decided on its position”, said Mr Carlson.
The first 6 months of the year will also be devoted to the review of the ‘Single European Sky’ and the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) (see EUROPE 13051/38).
The last trilogue on this dossier took place on 14 December. The Council of the EU and Parliament will have to agree on the geographical scope and the timeframe. “Member States want more time for implementation, but the proposed solution, with an open date from 2026, is not acceptable to us”, commented Petar Vitanov (S&D, Bulgaria).
In addition, the Swedish Presidency is expected to start work on the European Commission’s future proposals on rail transport, intermodality, the revision of the text on driving licences and the future green transport package.
Finally, tourism will not be forgotten. “We will continue to make progress in short-term rentals. Member States will also have to work together to implement the 2030 tourism agenda (see EUROPE 13080/13)”, confirmed Andreas Carlson. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)