Brussels, 15/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The revision of the White Paper on the transport policy, the latest measures in terms of air safety and the creation of an executive agency to take over the management of the TETNs were the main subjects discussed by the Commissioner for Transport, Jacques Barrot, at his exchange of views with the Parliamentary committee on transport and tourism on 13 September.
Revision of the White Paper. In order to assess the results obtained compared to the 2001 forecasts, the first discussion on this subject with the Member States will be followed up by a consultation via Internet and a conference (the theme for which has not yet been announced), between now and the end of the year. The Commissioner intends to continue his course on inter-modality and complementarity ("I am against any form of opposition between the modes of transport and I will hold a symposium on the logistics", he responded "amicably" to member Ari Vatanen, who asked him a question about this). Furthermore, Mr Barrot hopes to promote more energy-efficient mobility, which is accessible to all. The Commission also promised the MEPs that he would stress the planning of the infrastructures, devote a paragraph of the White Paper to the June remote regions and their specific needs, and bring in a chapter on negotiations with third countries in the aviation sector, "as this is a shared competency, as the Court of Justice has confirmed".
Air safety. Mr Barrot and the MEPs mutually welcomed the excellent cooperation between the Commission and the European Parliament in boosting air safety, which has taken the form of a consensus between the National air safety experts on the application, at Community level, of bans or restrictions on flights, the adoption of joint criteria and the establishment of a European blacklist, on 7 September (EUROPE 9023). The mechanisms to update the blacklist are still to be decided on, and the type of decision-making procedure has yet to be chosen (the Commission's option would be to use a consultative committee). Whatever is decided, this list must be "serious and must not be delayed", said the Commissioner, who is counting on constructive work between the three institutions in order to reach an agreement at first reading. He also hopes to be able to present the Commission's proposal on stepping up the competencies of the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) in the next two to three months. This agency, which are ready has "great credibility" with the president of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), he said, must have more prerogatives in terms of flight procedures, staff training and supervision of checks carried out by the Member States and third countries.
Executive agency and European coordinators for the TETNs. Several MEPs voiced their distrust with regards to the creation of an executive agency for the financial and technical management of the projects to be co-funded under the TETNs, which was announced on 20 July (EUROPE 8994). As the Parliament struggled to give its agreement on the appointment of the first six European coordinators for the priority projects, the Commissioner took pains to set the MEPs' minds at rest as "they are worried about seeing a new bureaucratic animal in the landscape", as he put it. The objective is to save money and to improve the coordination of projects, which will see contributions not only from the TEN budget, but also from the cohesion funds, he said. Instead of increasing staffing levels of DG TREN, or waiting for the coordinators to take possession of this agency, the Commissioner would rather be able to recruit specialists flexibly, and promised: "I can guarantee you that if this agency means more red tape, I will be against it, because I don't like red tape either".
Lastly, the Commission against few indications about several dossiers: -the allocation of the Eurovignette to the infrastructures in general, another subject close to his heart; -the communication on air navigation and the environment, planned for 27 September; -the communication on the political strategy to be followed in order to coordinate the financial contributions for the transport, energy and telecommunications TENs, which is anticipated for 2006.