the green light today's of eurodeputati to the fourth displeased railway package EU commission, but not CER



Today the European Parliament has given the go-ahead free in first reading to the "fourth railway package" adopted at the beginning last year from the EU commission that includes six stiff legislative proposals to modify directives and regulations with the scope to obtain a technical harmonization of the railway field of the European Union and to open national the railway markets ( on 30 January 2013). The objective is to reach a greater efficiency of the procedures for the certification of safety and the homologation of the vehicles, the release and the acknowledgment of such certificates and homologations on not discriminatory base in all the EU, to facilitate the income of new operators in the market, to remove the obstacles to the efficient operation of the managers of the railway infrastructure being allowed they to acquire a really European dimension and to promote the increase and the opportunities of development of the labor market.

The today's approval has provoked but the disappointment of the EU commission as - Brussels has explained - "the amendments adopted today from the European Parliament limit the effective competition in the railway field". "This - it has emphasized the vice president of the EU commission, Siim Kallas, responsible for mobility and the transports - is not the strong sign of which needs the European railroads and that they attended in order to increase own attraction. If from a part - Kallas has explained - the European Parliament opens the road for the reduction of the technical obstacles, from the other the today's plenary voting is another demonstration of the tenacity of the acquired national interests that have been demonstrated of greater interest for the eurodeputati ones rather than the reached compromises balanced and very motivated to December from the Commission for transport and tourism TRAN" ( on 17 December 2013).

The EU commission in fact has found as with respect to the so-called "technical pillar" of the package, constituted from the directives on safety and the interoperability and from the new relative regulations to the European Railway Agency, the European Parliament has confirmed the necessity to remove existing the administrative and technical obstacles and has assigned to the European Railway Agency new tasks, as for example the release of certificates of safety and authorizations of the valid vehicles in all the EU, while - it has evidenced the Commission - on the so-called "pillar of market" of the package, constituted from the directives in matter of governance and opening of the market and on the review of the regulations on the obligations of public service, the eurodeputati ones have ignored the proposals of the Commission and the job of the Commission TRAN "having adopted an ambitious attitude that could put to risk the development of an European only railway space".

Moreover - the EU commission has rimarcato - "while the European Parliament has approved of the introduction of a right for the European railway enterprises beginning from to offer to commercial services of national transport of passengers in all the Member States 2019, the procedures of contest for contracts of public service are postponed to 2023 and have been subject to very meaningful exceptions. Moreover the amendments adopted today from the European Parliament - it has still denounced the Commission - do not succeed to guarantee a effective independence of the manager of the infrastructure and a transparency financial institution inside vertically integrated structures that they are essential in order to guarantee a fair and not discriminatory access to the net".

If the EU commission at all is not satisfied of the outcome of the today's passage in Parliament of the fourth railway package, of opposite warning is the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the main association of the European railway industry, that it has appreciated "the outcome of the today's ballot of the European Parliament on all the aspects of the fourth railway package", with the approval of a legislative text that - second the association - "represents an attended improvement regarding the initial proposals of the Commission".

"They are very pleased - the president of CER, Christian Kern has commented in fact - to see that the intense dialogue between the members of the European Parliament and the CER has carried to reasonable legislative solutions. I want to thank all the parliamentarians who have dedicated their attention to these dossiers. It is beyond every doubt that we must guarantee a not discriminatory access to the net and must strengthen the rights through the norms. On the base of such general understanding we can define railway reforms in favor of our customers and of the European contributors. With goodwill both the parts would have to be possible to reach the consent easy". For the executive director of CER, Libor Lochman, "the efforts of the Parliament will allow to develop in efficient way the European only railway space, guaranteeing in such a way benefits to the European economy and all the European citizens. This that now is urgent - has concluded - she is that the legislators child's step quickly to the approval of a definitive text on the technical pillar".

After the today's passage to the European Parliament it will be up to the European Council to pronounce itself on the legislative package.