Brussels, 11/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission is expected to adopt its White Paper on transport policy, entitled "European transport policy in the run up to 2010 - a time to make choices". As it had announced in the political guidelines adopted in July this year, the main thing at stake is to reduce congestion in road and air transport and to reduce pollution, by keeping the share of rail transport in 2010 at least at its 1998 level. "This approach is far more ambitious than it seems", the Commission states defensively in advance, stressing that economic growth should not be linked to transport growth, but that the mobility of people and goods should not be restricted. The issue will be the focus of the informal meeting of transport and environment ministers to take place this weekend in Louvain.
In order to achieve these aims, the White Paper proposes 60 measures. The most ambitious "choices" mainly concern the "financing puzzle", by proposing the creation of a Community framework for fixing prices for access to infrastructures, harmonised taxation on professional fuels and the "mutualisation" of financing between the different kinds of transport within one and the same area (see EUROPE of 5 September, p.13, for details). The White Paper also announces for 2001 a new "rail package" that will cover access to competition for certain passenger transport activities and local goods transport. It also insists on the development of maritime and inland waterway transport to decongest roads, and announces that the Commission will present, in 2002, an inland waterway package mainly covering driving certificates and boatmen's working hours. Emphasis is placed on the development of "intermodality" from three points of view: a "Marco Polo" programme for the development of intermodality, the harmonisation of the profession of freight and container management and support to measures taken to ensure the continuity of passenger travel. In the air sector, the Commission confirms its "single sky" project for the management of air traffic, and insists on the need to develop airport facilities and capacities. As it had announced earlier, the Commission should also revise the priorities of trans-European transport networks, a first time in 2001 to focus on the "bottlenecks", then in 2004 to integrate the candidate countries' networks. We give below the main guidelines set out in the White Paper:
Road transport: The Commission proposals aim to improve the quality of road transport and to guarantee a position of "regulated competition". The proposals recommend harmonisation of the minimal clauses of the contracts governing transport, in order to protect carriers from the pressure exerted by charterers, which would mainly allow them to reflect the rise in oil prices on transport prices. The White Paper also announces that the Commission will, between now and the end of the year, put forward proposals on the harmonisation of sanctions and controls in order to guarantee a uniform interpretation of the legislation. In tax matters, the Commission recommends harmonising taxation on professional diesel fuel, as reported in EUROPE of 5 September.
Rail transport: The White Paper notes that the market share of rail transport went from 21.1% in 1970 to 8.4% in 1998, while it is still 40% in the United States. It notes dysfunction in the sector: rail companies that do not know the whereabouts of their goods trains, incomplete computerised networks and goods trains that are "slower than an icebreaker opening up the Baltic Sea".
After bringing competition onto the market for rail freight transport, which will begin in 2003 with a "trans-European network for rail freight" and be completed in 2008 (on a network of 150,000 km of line), the White Paper announces for 2001 a "new package of measures with a view to achieving a real internal market for rail transport". This would include: 1) the opening up to competition of part of internal goods traffic (cabotage); 2) safety regulations; 3) updating the directive on technical harmonisation of networks (interoperability); 4) gradual opening of the passenger transport market; 5) a directive fixing the conditions for compensation for delays or for failure to comply with the service obligations; and 6) the creation of a sort of European Agency for safety and interoperability.
Recommending improved service, the authors of the White Paper explicitly attack social movements. They write that, "in addition to the problem caused by the different track widths, the shortage of engines and of drivers, the persisting problems of internal organisation and certain social conflicts are at the origin of this evolution (towards a worsening of the quality of service for goods transport by rail).
The White Paper calls for new infrastructure to be built, particularly ring roads exclusively for freight transport and also rail access to ports.
Aviation: The White Paper repeats the proposal to set up a Single European Sky (adoption of which has been delayed by Commissioner Loyola de Palacio due to the dispute between the UK and Spain over the status of Gibraltar Airport (see EUROPE of 7 and 8 March). It announces new proposals for allocating slots in 2003, changing airport charges (to discourage the concentration of flights at certain times of day) and environmental rules. The White Paper notes that according to the European Environment Agency, 40 million people are disturbed by aeroplane noise, compared with 24 million for road traffic noise and 3 million for train noise. Faced with growing airport congestion, the White Paper stresses that its environmental rules will not allow political decision-makers to block the construction of new runways or new airports for that matter.
Still in terms of the environment, the White Paper notes that without challenging international regulations, kerosene duty exemption might be scrapped for inter-Community flights, as recommended by the Commission in the Directive on ecotaxes (which the Council has been discussing since 1997, the Taxation Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein's spokesperson said on Tuesday). The White Paper notes that as another option (or even as an alternative), the Commission is envisaging changing air navigation taxes to take into account the environmental impact of aircraft as part of the process of setting up the Single Sky. The White Paper also proposes 'reflecting' on the option of levying VAT on flights, to bring aviation into line with rail travel.
Maritime transport: The White Paper calls for "motorways at sea" to be created in order to get round the problem of bottlenecks between France and Spain in the Pyrenees, between Italy and the rest of Europe in the Alps, between France and the United Kingdom, and at a later stage between Germany and Poland. It recommends extending infrastructure, simplifying the regulatory framework by setting up "one stop shops" for shipping formalities, and integrating social regulations.
Intermodality: The White Paper notes that the Marco Polo programme (which will replace the "PACT" programme after 2001 for promoting integrated transport) will have an annual budget of approximately EURO 30 million over four years.
Bottlenecks and trans-European networks: As it had already announced, the Commission will be revising the TENs defined at Essen in order to concentrate on bottlenecks. In the second stage (in 2004), it will revise the TENs more fundamentally by focussing on coastal motorways, airport capacity and pan-European corridors in candidate countries. It is planning to extend the EU contribution to 20% of funding and pledges to consider introducing a draft declaration of European interest for infrastructure. (The list of projects concerned is set out in the White Paper's Action Programme that we will be publishing in the EUROPE document series.)
Users: The White Paper promises to put users at the centre of transport policy by taking action to reduce accidents by harmonising sanctions and encouraging the development of safer technologies through agreements with the car industry. A new action programme for road safety in 2002-2010 will aim to cut the number of deaths on the road by half. The White Paper recommends improving intermodality through integrated ticketing and better baggage handling. As reported in EUROPE on 5 September, the White Paper's financial proposals aim to make users rather than taxpayers pay for infrastructure costs.
Global framework: The White Paper repeats the Commission's appeal for the EU to join global organisations (ICAO, the Rhine Navigation Commission and the Danube Commission) and for it to negotiate a joint Open Skies policy both with the US and with Russian and Japan. It stresses that as a result of Member States negotiating separately, Europe only had 160 slots at Tokyo's Narita airport, compared with 640 for the US. The White Paper highlights the great efforts that will have to be made in terms of the Financial Perspectives post-2006 in order to prevent rail services from deteriorating in candidate countries (where they still account for 40% of freight transport).