Commissioners take position. Some of the reactions to the Barroso document on the Lisbon Strategy were extreme, some going so far as to accuse him of killing the spirit. You may have noticed that having made its many criticisms, the body which represents workers' unions (the European Trade Unions Confederation, ETUC) has playing something of a waiting game. Its Secretary General John Monks says that he is deeply concerned and in a “state of alert”, but adds that he “intends to know the Commission's exact intentions”, its operational proposals, before his organisation will take position officially. This is a wise position. The floor, therefore, goes to the European Commissioners, who are indeed starting to find their voice, beyond general declarations, on the sectors which come under their domain. Our bulletin summed up Neelie Kroes's stance and the reactions it caused (I intend to return to this), and the thoughts of other Commissioners. Today, I would like to highlight the clear and unequivocal position of vice-president Jacques Barrot, on a dossier which is essential for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy: the trans-European transport network, with its 30 priority projects which are vital to remove the bottlenecks hindering the smooth running of the single market and which have a negative effect on trade, the environment and various essential economic activities.
The meeting of 1 February between MEPs from various political groups, which focused mainly on the Lyon-Turn and Brenner rail tunnels (see our bulletin of 2 February, p.11), was followed in the evening by a meeting between MEPs (including four EP vice-presidents: Ingo Friedrich, Pierre Moscovici, Mario Mauro and Luigi Cocilovo) and Jacques Barrot as Commissioner for Transport. The significance of these two meetings had been made clear: the Lyon-Turin tunnel is an essential stage of the railway line which will go from Barcelona (with extensions to Madrid and Lisbon) all the way to Kiev, and the new Brenner tunnel will make it possible to go directly from Berlin to the south of Italy. Several questions were put, on crossing Slovenia, progress to date in Hungary and Poland, the possible bridge linking Sicily to the rest of the continent, the priority the Greens have requested for various rail links (see our bulletin of 4 February, p.13), etc.
Jacques Barrot's programme. Answering questions from the MEPs, Jacques Barrot stressed that Europe's competitiveness cannot be bolstered unless transports are up to scratch. He quoted five conditions for the 30 priority projects (the list of which was approved by the European Council) to be carried out. These are:
a) an EU budgetary envelope as close as possible to the 20 billion EUR called for by the Commission for the seven years of the forthcoming financial perspectives. This sum would help support the projects to a level of 20% of costs for the period indicated and allow EU support to be increased to 50% for cross-border parts (for which it is hardest to find funding and which need a particular kick-start to attract private capital) of certain projects. The less prosperous Member States could also use a proportion of the Structural Funds to pay for this.
b) the adoption by the Council of a new “Eurovignettes” regulation, which is essential to improve the funding of the networks (with the option of “super-tolls” for a few particularly expensive stretches) and to promote inter-modality (the Council's aim is political agreement in April);
c) the financial commitment of the States for parts which will require partial State funding. Promises and decisions of principle are no longer enough;
d) brave innovations to boost funding methods. The Commission will propose a financial guarantee mechanism for the first years of the projects' lives once they are completed (the need for which was demonstrated by the experience of the Channel tunnel);
e) the appointment of “coordinators” for projects requiring faultless financial and technical coordination. Mr Barrot intends to put forward a few names of people whose authority and competence are beyond question (according to unconfirmed rumours, the first will be Karel Van Miert). Their job will be political in nature as well as technical, as they will have to create the spirit and conditions to allow a good proportion of traffic to be diverted towards rail and combined transport.
Jacques Barrot has thus sketched out a concrete means for this sector to prepare for the future, in harmony with the ambitions of the Lisbon Strategy.
(F.R.)