Brussels, 22/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - Other than the two marathon negotiating sessions that led to agreements on the priority topics of the French Presidency, i.e. shipping and working time for truckers, the Transport Council discussed other issues (for the Council's air transport chapter, see EUROPE of 22 December, p.9). Thus:
- Safety related to the unloading of bulk carriers. While waiting for Parliament's first reading, the Council agreed on a common guideline on the draft directive that will define prescriptions for cargo handling operations and it established harmonised procedures for cooperation and communication between ships and port terminals.
- Social conditions for seamen: the Council "took note" of the intention of the forthcoming Presidency (Sweden) to seek a compromise on the directive that the Commission submitted in 1998 to avoid social dumping in the conditions of the recruitment of seamen onboard passenger ships and ferries. It also "took note" of the Commission's intention of soon presenting a new maritime package on safety onboard passenger ships and the employment and training of seamen.
- Public service in the passenger transport sector. During a short debate on the draft proposal the Commission presented in October to introduce "regulated competition" in public transport, ministers confirmed the differences we expected between those in favour of liberalisation and those defending the universal "public service". Germany and Spain, it seems, are the Member States with most reservations regarding liberalisation. Like France, several Member States insisted on recalling that the agreement on the "rail package" (which Parliament should be definitively adopting in January) does not cover passenger transport services. They also pleaded in favour of the provisions of the future directive being sufficiently flexible to respect local situations and subsidiarity. Finally, they considered that the five-year transitional period proposed by the Commission to be inadequate. Council President Jean-Claude Geyssot summarized the debates in a statement , saying that Member States had "expressed their will to guarantee the essential role of public passenger transport as service of a general interest and welcomed the fact that the proposal should establish compatibility with the treaty on financial compensation paid as counterpart to the execution of different public services".
- Agreements with Central and Eastern European countries (Ceecs). The Council heard a Commission report announcing that negotiations were over with most of the partners and that the Commission intended proceeding with the initialing of the agreements, as soon as the Court of Justice had issued its opinion on the subject.
- Flights over Siberia. The Council was briefed on contacts with the Russian authorities on the issue of compensation they are asking of airline companies to fly over Siberia, and of the preparation of a "Fund to modernise Russian aviation", headed by the Commission and the member countries of the Ebrd to ensure that this compensation is used appropriately.
