Brussels, 20/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Transport Council, to be held on Tuesday 26 March under the presidency of Francisco Alvarez-Cascoa, will seek to reach an agreement on three key points. Thus, the Presidency hopes to come to an agreement on the development of the European satellite positioning system, Galileo. Ministers should also adopt a decision on reducing airport noise, thus putting an end to the conflict between the EU and the United States with regards "hushkits". Furthermore, they are expected to extend the public "war risk" insurance coverage system of airline companies.
The Council is also to adopt conclusions on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in the field of transport and reach political agreements on comitology in the field of maritime safety, as well as on rail transport statistics. It will discuss the White Paper on EU transport policy in the run up to 2010, as well as the creation of a "European single sky" and the second wave of liberalisation in the rail sector. Ministers will seize the opportunity provided by the working lunch, in restricted session, to tackle the question of road traffic in the Alps and that of ecopoints, a controversial issue for France, Italy and Austria in particular (and taken up in the Barcelona Conclusions). For the remainder, the Council will simply take stock of the situation of work on a series of sensitive issues. We give below the Council agenda, in the order of the debates:
Port services: The Council will take stock of the work on the directive that opens the port service market up to competition. EUROPE will come back to this.
Marco Polo programme: The Council will take stock of the adoption of the Marco Polo programme, which will finance projects allowing for freight transport to be transferred from road to rail, sea or inland waterways. With a budget of EUR 115 million for the period 2003/2007, the programme takes over from the programme for pilot actions for combined transport, PACT. The Council is close to an agreement, but some delegations challenge the method that has allowed the Commission to calculate the difference between the level of pollution and congestion, etc., of the different kinds of transport ("average differential of external costs linked to the different kinds of transport") and to fix the level of subsidies in relation to this differential.
Trans-European transport networks: The Council still expresses considerable reservation about the new priorities for 2002/2004, and the financial regulation presented last autumn by the Commission. Adjusting the guidelines defined in Essen pending more complete revision of the networks after enlargement, the Commission has updated the list of priority projects with the addition of eight new projects for public and private financing totalling over EUR 66 billion (see EUROPE of 2 October last, p.7). It increased the maximum rate of Community financing from 10 to 20% for rail projects crossing natural barriers, as well as for cross-border projects with candidate countries (EUROPE of 3 October, p.11).
Overbooking: The Council has not made much headway on this issue yet. Last December, the Commission proposed a new regulation that specifies which rules should be followed and increases the level of passenger compensation if passengers are refused boarding, if flights are cancelled or if there are considerable delays. Several Member States challenge how appropriate the proposal is at a time of major crisis in air transport. As to substance, the questions cover the level of compensation, the inclusion of charter flights, the risk of overlapping with the legislation on package trips, and competition with foreign companies. The United Kingdom and Spain must also reach an agreement on the application of such rules at the airport of Gibraltar.
Timeslots: The Council will take stock of how the issue stands failing progress on the proposal of regulation that amends the rules for allocating slots in airports. EUROPE will come back to this.
Liberalisation of public transport: Ministers will take stock of the situation of the laborious work under way on the subject of opening public transport up to competition. EUROPE will come back to this in a later edition.
Rest time for drivers: The Council will take stock of the proposal for revising Regulation 3820/85 presented by the Commission last October, in order to specify the rules concerning rest time for drivers, avoid multiplication of derogations and allow more effective controls to be carried out through the digital tachograph method. The issue is linked to the regulation on working time for hauliers adopted last December after years of negotiation. The Presidency hopes to reach an agreement in June, despite current divergence over national exemptions, or the definitions in terms of "breaks", "daily or weekly rest", and "flexible weekly hours" in particular.
Maritime safety: The Council should confirm a political agreement on a regulation and a directive that will make it possible to group within a single committee the different committees currently dealing with maritime safety issues, and to speed up transposition of international rules into EU law.
Galileo: The Barcelona Summit requested Transport Ministers to take a decision that would allow the European satellite positioning system to be launched and subsequently release EUR 450 million for the development phase of the project, by creating a joint venture that will manage it. The Council text with the conclusions was still being contested on Wednesday but an opinion on it was expected to be given by Permanent representatives on Friday. The United Kingdom and Netherlands insist that a "rendezvous clause" is inserted in 2003, in order to check private sector commitment to the project. Divergences also exist on the implication of the private sector in the joint venture.
Euro-Mediterranean Co-operation in the Transport Field: The Council will adopt conclusions on this theme within the perspective of the Euro-Med conference on 22-23 April in Valencia. The conclusions call on the Commission to consolidate the Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum and do everything necessary to get the Euro-Med transport project rapidly up and running. This programme receives funding of EUR 20 million and is involved in promoting a Euro-Mediterranean transport network. The Forum began in 2001 within the field of maritime security, satellite navigation (Egnos and Galileo) and the Trans-Mediterranean infrastructure and research networks. A Commission report in March 2001 drew up a balance sheet that was very inconclusive with regard to co-operation in this field (see EUROPE 22 March 2001).
White Paper on Transport Policy until 2010: The Council will be holding its first policy debate on the document presented on 12 September by the European Commission, after the informal Transport and Environment Ministers meeting in Leuven last September (see EUROPE 18 September 2001). The funding of alternative infrastructures to roads is at the centre of the debate.
Airport Noise: The Council is expected to adopt the Draft Directive, as approved by the European Parliament during its first reading on 13 March (see EUROPE 14 March page 12).To be transposed into Community law, this agreement concluded at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) intends to lay down the criteria for allowing airports to ban the most noisy aeroplanes from their airspace. In practice, this Directive will replace the "Hushkit" regulation that aimed to stop old planes equipped with noise reducers registering in the EU as from 1 April 2002. On this basis the USA is expected to withdraw the complaint it had lodged in March 2000 to the ICAO against the regulation (see EUROPE 29 November for details).
Single European Sky: The Council will hold an orientation debate on the four regulations presented by the Commission to improve European air traffic by creating a "single sky" by 2004. The Presidency proposed that the following debates focus on: 1) The military dimension to the issue; 2) Organising the provision of services; 3) The creation of coherent airspace "blocks" taking into account the operational needs of users; 4) The role of Eurocontrol. Associating the military with the creation of this single air space is difficult to solve from a legal and political standpoint.
Company Insurance: The Council is expected to give its opinion on the extension beyond 31 March of the public insurance scheme for "terrorist risks" to the airlines and which had been set up after the attacks of 11 September. The objective is to protect European airlines, given that the USA has extended their aid by two months (see EUROPE 16 march page 15).
Statistics for the Railways: The Council is expected to give its agreement on a common position for a regulation laying down common rules for compiling statistics.
Second "Railway Packet": The Council will hold an orientation debate on this packet that envisages the opening up to competition of the national freight railways, rules for inter-operability of the networks and safety, as well as the creation of a European Railway Agency. France announced at the Barcelona Summit that it found the wave of liberalisation "premature". It has already been dragging its feet on the adoption of the first "packet" that will liberalise railway freight on international lines by 2007.