Brussels, 22/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The first six European coordinators for the trans-European transport networks held their first meeting on Wednesday 20 July in the office of the Commission vice-president responsible for transport, Jacques Barrot. The aim of the meeting was essentially to proceed to their official appointment, to confirm the content of their mission (the five priority projects and the deployment of ERTMS, European Rail Traffic Management System) and to mark the launch of their work in coordination and cooperation with decision-makers on the ground. As he had announced earlier, Karel Vinck will be responsible for a horizontal project, consisting in ensuring deployment of the ERTMS in all traffic corridors, while the five former members of the Commission will be responsible for managing a priority project, notably: - Karel Van Miert on the priority project No1 comprising the Berlin-Verona/Milan-Bologna-Naples-Messina-Palermo rail axis and the Brenner tunnel; - Etienne Davignon on priority project No3 regarding the high-speed South West Europe rail link between Lisbon, Tours and Montpellier; - Loyola de Palacio on the priority project No6 (Corridor V), the Lyons-Trieste-Divaca/Koper-Divaca-Ljubljana-Budapest-Ukrainian border rail link, including the Lyons-Turin section and the Mount Cenis tunnel; - Peter Balazs on priority project No17, the Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Vienna-Bratislava rail link; - and Pavel Telicka on priority project No27 for the Warsaw-Kaunas-Riga-Tallinn-Helsinki rail link known as “Rail Baltica”.
The above persons were selected according to technical as well as political criteria as they are to play the role of mediator and give a human face to the major European projects. Their experience of the European institutions and their knowledge of issues relating to finance and to the assessment of key projects will give them the necessary credibility to come closer to and to coordinate the decision-makers in order to carry out their mission successfully. The day they were appointed, Commissioner Barrot said these persons had been selected as they know how to make the different capitals work together. The salary fixed for the coordinators is EUR 1 500, their status of former Commissioners for five of them, as Mr Barrot explained, making it easier for them to accept this remuneration rather than other candidates. “We are being economical”, he said.
The coordinators will advise the promoters of projects for the financial aspects, will promote joint evaluation methods and will ensure overall coherence in the achievement of projects, both financial and technical, ensuring that a broad range of both industrial and regional players are involved. They are also expected to present a report each year on progress accomplished, any new developments or difficulties encountered. Karel Vinck will more especially work in close cooperation with the rail sector and the Member States in order to develop deployment for ERTMS by 2007. The coordinators will also be associated in the preparation of EU financial aid programming to TEN-T during the period 2007-2013, but without having the power to make funds available. “We expect their intervention will mean money is well spent, without losses (…). The TEN-T are above all a financial affair, but not just a financial matter, and for the work of the coordinators to be more effective, we trust that we shall not be too far from the 20 billion proposed by the Commission with the Parliament's support”, Mr Barrot recalled. Other meetings will follow, without an exact timetable, depending on the needs of the coordinators.