On Tuesday 1 October, the EU Council working party discussed the Hungarian Presidency’s new compromise on the Combined Transport Directive (see EUROPE 13495/6). According to a European source contacted by Agence Europe the following day, “a compromise is possible with a few changes to the text as a whole, except with regard to the definition”.
As four Member States did not want to change the definition of ‘combined transport’ (see EUROPE 13429/7), the Hungarian Presidency proposed a mixed approach. “Many Member States expressed reservations, six of them rejected the 150 km limit, but two Member States were prepared to be flexible”, explained the source. The blocking minority, the four Member States in question, expressed its support for the 150 km limit, but wanted the 50% requirement removed altogether and expressed reservations about some of the conditions for exceeding the limit. Two other Member States supported the mixed approach.
In response to requests from delegations, a new point has been added with the aim of excluding from the incentives short sea shipping legs that have no viable road alternative and are thus unavoidable. “This proposal was well received”, reported the source. The European Commission considers that the new definition is too complicated and that it constitutes an obstacle to digitalisation.
The Presidency also proposed a lighter version of the “national policy frameworks” envisaged to boost the competitiveness of intermodal and combined transport, using the term “national measure” instead and making the requirement for a 10% reduction in the total costs of combined transport an aspirational rather than a mandatory goal. Although some delegations responded favourably, three Member States reiterated that the non-mandatory nature of the measures should be clearly indicated. Another delegation showed flexibility, stating that it would be more open to national measures once the definition of combined transport had been clarified.
The Presidency’s proposal to include an option allowing electronic freight transport information (eFTI) platforms to record information until they become operational was almost unanimously rejected as unnecessary. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)