Brussels, 16/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - With the European Parliament's current term fast upon us, a number of important transport issues will be discussed by the European Parliament's plenary later this month in Strasbourg (19-22 April). (See the full agenda in yesterday's EUROP: E, pages 16 and 17). The transport issues on the table include:
Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). The European Parliament is expected to endorse the Council's common position on the decision amending the EU guidelines for the TEN-T. Following a series of informal consultations, starting from the date of the first reading by the EP on 11 March (see EUROPE of 12 March, p.15), the two institutions agreed on a draft Council's common position in order to enable the decision to be taken during the current term of the European Parliament. The Council adopted the common position using the written procedure on 14 April, and it is now the European Parliament's turn to vote on the recommendation by British Conservative Philip Bradbourn (second reading under codecision). As reported in Europe on 27 March (page 13), the Council's common position does not make any great changes to the list of priority projects (Annex III). It includes, for example, the highly controversial bridge over the Straits of Messina in Italy, which the EP scrapped in its first reading. While the main amendments to the list of priorities have not been taken up in the Council's common position, it is highly likely that the European Parliament will adopt the text. The Greens/EFA will vote against it, but the other main political parties (including the EPP-ED, PES and ELDR) are reported to be happy with the strengthening of the role of the European Parliament in this connection (see the above-mentioned issue of EUROPE).
Second rail package. The European Parliament is also expected to adopt the draft agreement on the second rail package, as prepared by the conciliation meeting on 16 March (see Europe of 18 March, p.7). The package includes a draft directive on developing railways in the EU, a draft directive on rail safety, a draft regulation establishing a European Rail Agency and a draft directive on the interoperability of national rail networks. The draft agreement between the EP and the Council foresees: liberalisation of the international freight market by 1 January 2006 and the national freight market by 1 January 2007 (including cabotage). The liberalisation of passenger rail transport has been excluded from the second rail package, but in a 'referral', the European Parliament and the Council note that the date of 2010 put forward by the Commission (in the third rail package, where it proposes to liberalised international passenger transport, including cabotage, on 1 January 2010. Ed.) must be considered as an objective whereby operators can prepare themselves appropriately; the option for Member States to introduce tighter safety rules at home than those proposed at EU level as long as this does not create an uneven playing field (the Commission will be keeping an eye on this); a board of managers for the European Rail Agency made up of one representative per Member State, four representatives of the European Commission and six representatives of the social partners (without voting rights); and the introduction of black boxes (akin to flight recorders) in locomotives.
Taxation of lorry transport. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the report by Italian Christian Democrat Luigi Cocilovo on the draft directive amending the eurovignette directive, concerning the taxation of lorry transport using certain TEN-T infrastructure (first reading under codecision). Adopting the report by Cocilovo by a comfortable majority on 17 March 2004, the European Parliament's Transport Committee decided that income raised from lorries passing through toll-booths must only be used for making improvements to the transport sector. Hence the Committee is supporting the position taken by the European Commission. The Transport Committee did, however, extend the scope of application of the new proposal to all lorries exceeding 3.5 tonnes. It amended parts of the proposal concerning costs to be taken into account when calculating tolls, and rejected the idea of setting up an independent monitoring authority for road infrastructure (see the details of the vote in Europe of 19 March, p.11). At the Council, discussions between Member States have so far come to deadlock over the use to be made of monies raised by imposing tolls on road usage and this has prevented agreement being reached on the entire proposal. At the 9 March 2004 Transport Council, the delegations were split in two, with one side supporting the Commission and the other only agreeing to allocate a proportion of the monies raised from the tolls to transport spending (see Europe of 11 March, p.10). No progress has been made on the issue in the meantime.
Road tolls. The European Parliament is expected to give its views in second reading under the codecision procedure on the recommendation by CDU MEP Renate Sommer on the draft directive to generalise interoperability of electronic road toll payment systems (teletolls). On 6 April 2004, the European Parliament Transport Committee adopted without amendment the Council's common position on this issue. The common position foresees the coexistence of teletoll systems using microwave technology and teletolls using satellite navigation systems, whereas the Commission wanted to make it compulsory, as from 2012, to use satellite tracking technology. The Council also amended the timetable proposed by the Commission for the introduction of a European road toll system that would make all the existing toll systems interoperable across the European Union. As far as the Council is concerned, operators will have to propose this service for vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes by 1 July 2009 at the latest, and for all other vehicles by 1 July 2011.
Tunnel safety. The European Parliament will also be giving its views in second reading under the codecision procedure on the Council's common position on the draft directive setting minimum safety standards for tunnels in the trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). This proposal was presented following the serious road accident in the Mont Blanc tunnel. Adopting the recommendation by Austrian Christian Democrat Reinhard Rack on 6 April, the European Parliament's Transport Committee again approved the Council's common position without making any modifications at all. The common position rejects the automatic classification system proposed by the Commission, replacing it with a system setting safety standards depending on the characteristics of the tunnel in question. It also attributes particular importance to the disabled, as requested by the European Parliament. Moreover, unlike the European Parliament's line, it keeps the four level general administrative structure proposed by the Commission for implementing the directive.
The European Parliament will also be giving its views on the report by Belgian Liberal Dirk Sterckx concerning the stepping up of maritime safety measures. Following the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Spain in November 2002m the European Parliament adopted a resolution on 23 September 2003 calling for the setting up of a temporary committee on the strengthening of maritime safety. The temporary committee was instructed to analyse the economic and social consequences of disasters at sea, like the sinking of the Prestige, and to assess maritime safety measures and the way they are implemented by the Member States. From December 2003 to March 2004m the temporary committee held public hearings of experts, managers and representatives of NGOs. It also send a delegation to Barcelona to meet the captain of the Prestige. Following this consultation, Mr Sterckx drafted his report, adopted on 5 April 2004 by the temporary committee on the stepping up of maritime safety, which highlighted the need for Member States to apply EU and international maritime safety standards (see Europe of 6 April).