Brussels, 21/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Member States reached a last minute agreement on the rate of reduction of ecopoints, or road transport rights through Austria. The compromise presented by the French Council Presidency was adopted by qualified majority by fourteen votes, against Austria's vote. Failing an agreement in Council, the proposal presented in May by the European Commission would have been automatically applied as of this Thursday (see EUROPE of 25 May, p.11). The agreement should still be formally approved during the night by written procedure.
After exceeding in 1999 the circulation thresholds set out in Austria's accession protocol, the EU reduced the number of ecopoints allocated to hauliers for transit through Austria from the year 2000. The compromise reached acts, it would seem, on the number of years over which the reduction of ecopoints is extended (30% in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and 10% in 2003), on the threshold of polluting emissions authorised per ecopoint and on recovery of ecopoints not used in 2000.
Speaking before the press, Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio remarked that, even if the Austrian Transport Minister threatened to take such an agreement before the Court of Justice (in so far as the protocol of accession stipulates that the ecopoints must be reduced the year after the threshold is exceeded): 1) the principle of the protocol which provides for polluting emissions to be reduced in Austria has been respected; 2) free movement is also a fundamental EU principle which must be respected; 3) the Austrian minister is the first person to have spoken to her about a flexible solution which does not do away with all traffic through Austria, including Austrian hauliers. The Commissioner commented before the compromise were announced that she has had several meetings with the minister. She states she understands the political problems of the Austrian government but it is in the interest of the Commission to find a valid solution for all Europeans. The essential thing, she said, is to negotiate.