Raquel Sánchez Jiménez, the Spanish Transport Minister, has announced her intention to finalise the revision of the rules governing the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) under Spain’s Presidency, during an exchange with MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport on Tuesday 19 September. She also mentioned other issues on which she hopes to make progress before the end of the year.
TEN-T. The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council had proposed a compromise in June (see EUROPE 13204/9), but the interinstitutional negotiations had remained blocked (see EUROPE 13213/15).
Ms Sánchez Jiménez said that this issue was “fundamental” and that negotiations had made good progress. “We want to move forward as quickly as possible on this issue, because we need to be more competitive”, she said. She welcomed the collaboration with the TEN-T corridor coordinators. “In their view, Member State investment must be sufficient to guarantee infrastructure on national territory, but also cross-border connections”, she reported. “It is these connections that will make this network possible without interruptions”, she added.
Aviation. “Positions on the ‘Single European Sky’ are quite far apart within the Parliament and between the Member States”, reported the minister. We are trying to find compromise solutions, she stressed.
The aim of this overhaul of airspace management is to rationalise it and make it more efficient by reforming the air navigation services (ANS) sector. Discussions are still ongoing (see EUROPE 13194/7).
Asked about the idea of a minimum air fare, Ms Sánchez Jiménez replied that this issue would not be discussed at the informal meeting of European transport ministers to be held in Barcelona on Friday 22 September. “This kind of proposal is complex from a legal point of view”, she pointed out. It was the French Transport Minister, Clément Beaune, who announced at the beginning of September that he wanted to introduce a minimum air fare in Europe to combat social and environmental dumping (see EUROPE 13240/21).
Road safety. The minister claimed she was “committed” to making progress on this package, which includes a proposal on driving licences, another on safety-related traffic rules and a third on driving disqualifications at European level (see EUROPE 13132/1).
“We are working hard on the digital driving licence”, she said (see EUROPE 13248/22). Some MEPs criticised the minister for treating these proposals separately, rather than as a package. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)