Brussels, 10/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The liberalisation of passenger rail transport will clearly be a battle ground between the European Parliament and the Council when they attempt to find an agreement on the third railway packet. This is the feeling we get from the debate on Tuesday 10 October which preceded the Parliamentary transport committee on the common positions of the Council on the three legislative proposals making up the packet. The three reports will be presented for a second reading in the transport committee in November with a vote in December before a vote in the plenary session planned for January 2007.
The Council thinks it is very clear that: the opening up to competition of international passenger services should take place on 1 January 2010, as proposed by the European Commission in its draft directive on access to the railway market; on the other hand, the Parliament, in a first reading, proposed 2008. There is no question of liberalising national passenger railway transport as Parliament wanted with the proposal it made of 2012. During the debate, the rapporteur on the dossier, German Christian Democrat Georg Jarzembowski reaffirmed his support for the Parliament's position in first reading and the date of 2008 for the liberalisation of international passenger services. Nonetheless, would it be prepared to accept a compromise: 2015 for opening up to competition of national passenger services, he indicated. Nevertheless, the position of the rapporteur did not get unanimity apart from during the plenary in first reading. Dutch Christian Democrat Corien Wortmann-Kool pointed out that at the time his report was adopted by “a very small majority”. Belgian Socialist Säid El Khadraoui said that the common position of the Council consisted a “good basis” from which they should not distance themselves too much. On the other hand, British Socialist Brian Simpson and the Spanish Liberal Josu Ortuondo Larrea gave their support to Mr Jarzembowski. The Council's common position is not acceptable, affirmed Ortuondo Larrea, who preferred the date 2008 to 2010 but who would be prepared to accommodate to 2009.
Discussions between Parliament and the Council on two other proposals are expected to be easier. Belgian Liberal Dirck Sterckx, rapporteur on the draft proposal on rights and obligations of passengers said that it was “possible” to get an agreement with the Council. The two institutions are expected to first have to get an agreement on the proposal applying to passengers travelling on international networks. In first reading, parliament expanded this to include passengers travelling on national networks whereas in its common position, the Council followed the Commission's initial proposal. Sterckx is intending to stick to his position, namely that of extending it to passengers travelling on national networks but, in the guise of a compromise, Parliament might agree to accept a “realistic deadline” for the introduction of proposal provisions if the time frame was going to be “twenty years”. Gilles Savary the French Socialist and rapporteur on the draft directive on certification of train drivers said that “the common position (of the Council) differs (from the position of the Parliament) in the details”: the date of transposition of the directive and its field of application. Although the Council is seeking to limit to train drivers, and trains, parliament wants to extend it to all train personnel.
The Commission reaffirmed its support for the 2010 date for liberalisation of international passenger rail transport as it corresponds to the time needed for inter-operability standards to be up and running, it explained. According to an impact study carried out by its services, the opening up of national passenger services would not really bring any economic advantages. In connection with the Sterckx report, the Commission, like the Council, believes that extension of the field of the proposal's application to national services is “premature”. On the Savary report, the Commission regretted the limits to the field of the proposal's application as sought by the Council. The Commission is hoping that the Parliament and Council will reach an agreement in the second reading on this third railway package, under the German presidency. (dt)