At a meeting of the Intermodal Transport group on Friday 16 June, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council proposed new compromises on the revision of the rules governing the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Interinstitutional negotiations have been underway since mid-April.
Technical adjustments are continuing after two working meetings (see EUROPE 13186/11, 13191/21). Work on the first two chapters is still in progress.
The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council has proposed accepting the European Parliament’s proposal to add the definition of EuroVelo to Article 3 of Chapter 1, on condition that the Parliament accepts an amendment to Article 5 concerning the resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly network. The Presidency proposed that EuroVelo should not appear in the article, but rather in a recital.
With regard to Article 4 on the objectives of the TEN-T, the Presidency has also proposed combining the two visions of the institutions with regard to cohesion policy. It suggested that this objective should be formulated as follows: “the reduction of infrastructure quality gaps and the promotion of including interoperability between gaps in digital systems of all transport modes, while having adequate capacity of the network between regions and Member States”.
In the same article, the Presidency suggested aligning itself with the European Parliament’s position by adding consideration of the working conditions of transport professionals and not just users, as had been provided for in the initial text.
In its position, the European Parliament wanted to support seamless mobility in the Union through the implementation and strict application of common technical and operational infrastructure standards. While Parliament maintains its position on the remainder of the amendment to this article, the Presidency has proposed that Member States move in its direction by modifying the amendment as follows: “support seamless mobility in the Union through the implementation of the infrastructure requirements as set out in Chapter III”.
With regard to Article 5, on saving resources and protecting the environment, the Presidency suggested aligning with Parliament’s position by adding consideration of air and noise pollution.
In Chapter II, in the article devoted to the network's general priorities, while the initial text and the European Parliament wanted to mention reducing transport emissions and strengthening energy security, the Presidency preferred the EU Council’s less ambitious position. The compromise includes “contributing to mitigating exposure of urban areas and rural areas and, where relevant, densely populated rural areas to negative effects of transiting rail and road transport“.
Read the text: https://aeur.eu/f/7lf (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)