Brussels, 08/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - A busy Council awaits the Transport Ministers of the EU on Thursday afternoon and Friday, under the chairmanship of the Dutch Transport Minister Karl Peijs. This packed agenda does not, however, necessarily mean that the Council will be a difficult one. It is worth noting that two agreements will be signed on Friday on the sidelines of the Council: one between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic on road safety, and the other between France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on the Rotterdam-Lyon rail corridor, as part of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TTEN).
Maritime transport: The Council is to reach political agreement on the proposed regulation to include in Community law the international code for the safety management of ships and the prevention of pollution (the ISM Code: International Safety Management) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The objective of the regulation is to reinforce the management of safety at sea and the prevention of pollution. It will apply to cargo- and passenger ships flying the flag of a Member State and making national and international voyages, and to third-country vessels travelling within the EU or operating regular services to or from ports in the Member States. Passenger ships operating within five miles of the coast will be exempted, regardless of their flag. The Member States will have to ensure that shipping companies operating one of these vessels respect the provisions of the regulation before issuing certification of conformity, to be valid for five years. The European Parliament approved the proposal at first reading without tabling any amendments.
Pending the Parliament's first reading, the Council will try to reach a general agreement on a proposed directive on the recognition of sailors' qualifications issued by the Member States. The proposal, which modifies directive 2001/25/EC, aims to facilitate the recognition of certificates issued on Community territory, whilst guaranteeing the strict application of EU provisions on training, certification and monitoring.
The Council will adopt conclusions on liability and compensation for victims in cases of marine pollution. These conclusions, which carry on from those adopted by the Transport Council and the European Council further to the shipwreck of the Prestige, stress the need to extend liability for pollution and ensure that victims receive compensation proportionate to the damage suffered. The Commissioner for Transport, Jacques Barrot, will also present the ministers with a new proposed directive on the liberalisation of port services (EUROPE of 14 October).
Land transport: Pending the first reading of the Parliament on this dossier, the Council will try to reach a general agreement on the proposed directive on certification for staff driving trains or locomotives on the Community rail network. The objective of this proposal, which is part of the third railway package, is to improve safety and to facilitate mobility by introducing a general licence issued to all drivers who fulfil certain criteria (age, medical fitness) and specific certificates issued for certain skills (EUROPE of 4 March). The delegations support this proposal, although some issues relating to the scope have still to be resolved. Whereas the Commission's proposal applied to train drivers and to on-board staff indirectly involved in driving, the compromise text presented by the Dutch Presidency will only apply to drivers. This approach was supported by the vast majority of the delegations preferring to wait for the results of a report to be drawn up by the European Railway Agency before taking a decision on the rest of the staff. Furthermore, whilst supporting the inclusion of drivers working solely on national routes in the scope of the directive, the Presidency's text allows Member States to ask the European Railway Agency to carry out a cost/benefit analysis of such a measure, if they so wish. Depending on the results obtained, the Commission may allow these Member States not to apply the provisions of the directive to train drivers operating exclusively on national territory, for a period of ten years.
The Council is also set to reach a partial political agreement listing the technical requirements for ships operating in the internal waters and amending the directive 82/714/EEC (the agreement will only relate to the annexes to the proposal), and adopt conclusions on road safety.
Air transport: The Council hopes to reach partial political agreement on the modified proposed regulation on the harmonisation of technical rules and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation, a proposal which has been blocked in the Council for years and the aim of which is to establish operational standards applicable to air transporters (EU-OPS rules), including flying time and rest for aircraft crew (FTL rules). The political agreement the Council will attempt to broker will 'only' cover aircraft cabin crew flight and rest times, based on a compromise drafted by the Presidency including: daily on flight working times of no longer than 13 hours with the option of extending this by one hour and, in most cases, a rest period of as long a time as the previous hours of duty.
Various exceptions to this have been foreseen but equal safety levels must be guaranteed. The European Air Safety Agency will have to carry out a medical and scientific investigation of these measures in the first three years following the directive's entry into force and will help the Commission prepare any amendments that prove necessary.
Awaiting the first reading in Parliament, the Council will attempt to get general agreement on a draft directive concerning the EU air traffic controllers' licence.
The idea is to increase security levels and improve the operating of the EU's air traffic control system by the introduction of an EU licence.
This draft legislation is part of the European Open Skies legislation, based on international industry standards.
The Council will also be adopting two draft decisions to mandate the Commission to open negotiations with Morocco and the Balkan States (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia Montenegro) on aviation agreements.
Galileo - The Council will adopt conclusions on the European satellite navigation system Galileo to launch the deployment and utilisation phases and confirm the system's main characteristics (particularly the five services which will be provided) in line with the Commission's Communication published in October (see EUROPE of 5 October). The Council will also pledge to contribute funding for both these phases at a relatively prudent level, while awaiting the negotiations over the 2007-2013 Financial Perspectives (the Commission unveiled a draft regulation earmarking a billion euros for Galileo, see EUROPE of 16 July) and a Commission report on the negotiations over the bids to run the Galileo system.