Brussels, 25/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament and Council have reached agreement on the definition of ports to be integrated into the "Trans-European Transport Network" and which, because of that, will be able to benefit from European funding. This agreement, that still needs formally approving by both institutions, reduces the number of ports eligible for Community co-funding by following the more restrictive position that Parliament adopted on second reading last October. More generous, the Council's common position of June, would have covered some 300 sea ports and 235 inland ports. According to the agreement secured in conciliation, the ports included in the Trans-European network are:
International shipping ports ("category A"), whose traffic exceeds 1.5 million tonnes of freight or 200,000 passengers a year, and that have inter-modal connections with the rest of the Trans-European transport network. The Council, that had wanted a more generous threshold of 1 million tonnes and that did not demand inter-modal connections, rallied around Parliament's position of second reading.
Community shipping ports ("category B"), whose annual traffic exceeds 0.5 million tonnes, or between 100,000 and 199,999 passengers a year, and which are connected to the Trans-European network.
Regional shipping ports ("category C"), which do not meet criteria A or B but are located in insular, peripheral or distant regions, and assure the connection of these regions with the central regions of Europe.
Inland ports, which register a traffic of 500,000 tonnes of freight, instead of the 300,000 as the Council had wanted.
At Parliament's request, the European Commission has undertaken, moreover, to add the Elbe-Lubeck and Twente-Mittelland canals to the list of navigable routes and inland ports.