Brussels, 15/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The rapporteur of the European Parliament for the directive on the taxation of heavy goods vehicles using certain infrastructure, Corien Wortmann-Kool (PPP, Netherlands), presented his draft recommendation for second reading to the Parliamentary committee on transport and tourism, on 13 September. A growing number of Member States plan to put on their own system of taxation in place, and in order to avoid this patchwork and a lack of transparency on the calculation methods, it is urgent that an agreement be reached quickly with the Council at second reading, she warned. For this reason, the rapporteur feels that the way forward is to concentrate on a few major themes: -extending the scope to the whole of the trans-European road network, leaving open the possibility for the States to bring in toll booths on the main road network; -applying these tolls to vehicles with a maximum total authorised laden weight of at least 3.5 tonnes, rather than 12 tonnes as the Council had hoped for, because the Council's position would lead to an increased number of smaller vehicles, which would in turn increase congestion and pollution; -including construction costs for "objective environmental elements" in the calculation and bringing in the type of vehicle and level of PM10 and oxide of nitrogen particles as a variation factor for the tolls; -proceed with a calculation of external costs (the "pièce de résistance of the Council", which refuses to internalise them), using a methodology laid down by the Commission. The report brings in the "user pays" principle, as well as that of polluter pays, and this is accompanied by a ban on double taxation. Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Mr Pasquarelli said that he was in favour of applying the directive to vehicles of 3.5 tonnes and of extending it to certain parts of the internal network, but the Commission would prefer to take these decisions in "comitology", rather than leaving it up to subsidiarity. The Commission is also in favour of a reference to the type of vehicle and to the PM10 particles ("which are more sophisticated than the EURO emission category"), but it regrets the fact that the Council and the Parliament were being less ambitious than it in terms of resource allocation ("this is a point I have very much at heart", said the Commissioner for Transport, Jacques Barrot, during the exchange of views with the members of the European Parliament.
Overall, the report went down very well, but with a certain number of misgivings on the planned exceptions for the extremely remote regions and the reductions granted to frequent users. "We must be strict about the definition, otherwise the polluted pays principle makes no sense", said the two Austrian MEPs, Reinhard Rack (EPP-ED) and Evelin Lichtenberger (Greens), whilst German Social Democrat Ulrich Stockmann said that "we will vote against the reductions ", and the German Green Michael Cramer proposed an alternative solution for the extremely remote regions: set a minimum toll level and levy a higher toll in these regions. On the method of calculation, Commission representative Pasquarelli acquiesced on taking external costs into account, while stressing that the Commission had already made proposals to this end at first reading. We must move forward quickly and allow the Member States the possibility of using methods which already exist, whilst we wait for the Commission to come up with a single method, said the Austrian Social Jörg Leichtfried -a solution which was immediately rejected by the rapporteur, who feels that "the instrument does not yet exist for a reasonable political agreement" with the Council. Some people spoke out against a "demonisation of road transport" compared to other modes of transport. How many more constraints can we accept when the other modes are not efficient, wondered German MEP Renate Sommer (EPP-ED), rapporteur on the harmonisation of technical toll systems. "When I see the price and airline tickets, this is environmental suicide!", she said, adding: "the problem is the sovereign citizen, who wants to pay less, whilst fighting against environmental pollution". In the view of the vice president of the Parliamentary committee, Gilles Savary (PES, France), the report goes towards creating a new balance between the various modes of transport, rather than getting rid of roads. "But we must recognise that the market is distorted in favour of the road", pointing out that 18,000 heavy goods vehicles pass through the Pyrenees every day, a level which is set to reach 28,500 a day by 2010.
The MEPs have until 20 September to table amendments, the vote of the committee will take place on 14 November and the vote at the plenary in December. Gary Titley (PES, United Kingdom) came down in favour of a cautious attitude and for the adoption of the text as it stands. "We will sort the details out afterwards, because there is a danger of it all being watered down if we get into excessively long negotiations with the Council. The best is the enemy of the good". Conversely, Michael Cramer wants the Parliament to stand firm, "because afterwards, there will be still more negotiating to do". The rapporteur and the Commission hoped that an agreement will be able to be reached under the UK Presidency, as does Reinhard Rack: "let them show us what they are made of! They tell us that they are interested in everyday problems rather than the EU in 25 years' time, let them prove it!", he said.