Brussels, 17/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee's vote on the report by Dutch EPP-ED MEP Corien Wortmann-Kool in Strasbourg on 14 November was the scene of strong words and disagreement over absorbing external costs and increased road tolls for polluted regions, but the scope of the directive was broadly approved.
The main surprise at the meeting was the oral amendment tabled by Belgian Socialist Said El Khadraoui to beef up the rapporteur's amendment on absorbing external costs, described by some Social Democratic and Green MEPs on the Transport and Tourism Committee as not going far enough. The very tight vote (with EPP-ED MEPs voting against) went through, enabling the Transport and Tourism Committee to require the Commission to prepare an absorption method for external costs in the first two years of the Eurovignette directive coming into force. The Commission has also been invited to unveil a draft revised directive on absorbing external costs in line with the method to be set out by the Commission. If no decision is made on revising the directive three years after the method is published, the Member States can increase the basic toll fee by up to 60% of infrastructure cost to absorb external costs. This 60% is recognised by most international models for absorbing external costs (UNITE, OCDE, INFRAS, PETS, etc) and the calculation method used in Switzerland for variable lorry tolls. Arguing that road toll calculations should take account of the external costs of lorries travelling through an area, the Greens welcomed the adoption of the amendment, saying it marked the failure of intense lobbying against absorbing external costs and send a clear message to people living on heavy traffic transit roads that traffic damage to health and the environment would be taken into consideration. In a press release, German Social Democrat Ulrich Stockmann says this is the most significant piece of road transport legislation in ten years. Absorbing external costs and how to do this was the 'piece de resistance', with the Council refusing to take account of this in first reading, although people are now calling for absorption of external costs using existing methods. This is called for by the European Federation for Transport and the Environment, T&E, for example. In a press release, Markus Liechti of the T&E expresses disappointment at the postponing until 2011 of taking into account the environmental and health damage caused by lorry traffic in surrounding areas. Lorries are estimated to cause EUR 170 bn worth of damage to health and the environment every year. The Community of European Railways (CER) has welcomed the European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee's courageous stance, saying that for the first time, it introduces fairer criteria for rail and road transport.
On another tricky area of debate, the Transport and Tourism Committee finally decided to keep options open for increasing tolls in particularly sensitive regions, like cities and mountains, of up to 25%. The income generated from the tolls could be used to maintain infrastructure and transport in general. The Council rejects the idea of stipulating where the income should go. This money must not be used by Member States to fill their budget deficits, warned German EPP-ED MEP Georg Jarzembowski.
Tempers were less frayed at the Transport and Tourism Committee when it came to extending the scope of the directive to all the Trans-European Transport Networks (TENs) and 'alternative routes'. Transport and Tourism Committee agreed with the rapporteur's idea of applying the directive to lorries of 3.5 tonnes and above (rather than 12 tonnes and above as suggested by the Commission and endorsed by the Council). The decision was reflected in a change to the official title of the Eurovignette directive, with the word lorry (heavy goods vehicle) being replaced by 'goods vehicle'. Tolls only apply to lorries of 12 tonnes and over in Germany at the moment, but Georg Jarzembowski argued that smaller lorries and vans, which are increasingly being used for goods transport, should bear the cost of infrastructure use in the same way as big lorries.
The animated debate did not in any way deflate the desire by members of the Transport and Tourism Committee to ensure the plenary endorses the report in second reading on 13/14 December.