Brussels, 22/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - At its February plenary session, the Committee of the Regions adopted the opinion of Rhône-Alpes Regional Council First Vice-President Bernard Soulage (PES, France) on public rail and road passenger transport services. The Committee regretted that the revised draft regulation did not also apply to public transport services by inland waterways, since these services were now part of the local public transport network. The Committee warned too that the implementation of rules to assess fair compensation for public service obligations was likely to cause a legal grey area. In the context of the opening of the market for the provision of public transport services, the Committee came out in favour of regulated competition allowing account to be taken of the needs of vulnerable persons and job seekers who lived in underprivileged districts. During the debate, Mr Soulage said he felt the Commission proposal showed that subsidiarity and competition could and should exist happily side by side. Mr Soulage called on the Commission to propose a framework directive on services of general economic interest (SGEI). He said that common definitions for SGEI had to be drawn up to strengthen legal security not only for operators responsible for managing the SGEI, but also for public authorities responsible for the definition and control of these essential services for the community. All of this in line with the subsidiarity principle recognising that definition, organisation, funding and control of services of general economic interest were carried out on national, regional and local levels.