Strasbourg, 18/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Parliament, Commission and Council have agreed on a budget of 400 million euro for the Marco Polo II programme, which funds projects which encourage shifting road freight to other, more environmentally friendly, forms of transport. In adopting the report by German Christian Democrat MEP Reinhard Rack, the Parliament ratified all the amendments in the compromise that came out of the informal trilogue with the Commission and the Council. The result is that the agreement has led to a lower budget but will allow the adoption of the programme on first reading. The Council is expected to formally approve the agreement in the next few weeks.
As a result, the Marco Polo II programme sees the removal of almost half of the budget originally proposed by the Commission -740 million euro down to 400 million euro for the 2007-2013 period. Eligibility levels for projects have also been lowered to allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to be more involved in the programme. The threshold for minimum grants has now been set at 2.5 million euro for so-called Motorways of the Sea, 2 million for projects which act as catalysts, 1 million for projects to reduce traffic and 500,000 euro for projects shifting to other modes of transport (figures proposed by the Council in April 2005: see EUROPE 8934).
According to the compromise, the aim is to produce a shift in the average yearly increase in international road freight, measured in tonnes/kilometre, towards short sea shipping, rail and inland waterways, or a combination of these, where the road journeys are as short as possible. The compromise supports technical innovation in rolling stock to increase the loading capacities of wagons and promote the transfer of large volumes from road to rail. It seeks to avoid competition distortions, particularly between forms of transport other than road, and to pay particular attention to sensitive areas and heavily built-up areas.
During the debate, most MEPs and the Commission welcomed the agreement which will allow the adoption of the programme on first reading, while regretting its reduced budget. Austrian MEP Evelin Lichtenberger said that for the Greens, this was a “great disappointment” and called on the Commission not to change its objectives at the mid-term review of its White Paper on the European transport policy until 2010 (due to at the end of April and now scheduled for the end of June). “We have heard representatives of the Commission say that, in the review of the White Paper, objectives would be changed and that seems to us to be negative. If we were to remove the inter-modal options, we would lose our credibility and would be giving in to the lobbies,” she warned. Speaking for the GUE/NGL, Dutch MEP Erik Meijer also called for no change in the objectives set out in the White Paper which promote rail transport. “It would be very bad,” he said, calling for the promotion of the Motorways of the Sea to help reduce road transport.