17 June: Transport Council

Date: 24/06/1999

EU TRANSPORT ministers did not reach agreement on a package of proposals aimed at luring traffic off crowded roads and on to railways after German Transport Minister Franz Münterfering failed to convince his French counterpart to support the measures. The German presidency had made the issue a policy priority, but ran into trouble from French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, who argued that the plan would cause financial damage to Europe's railway network.

MINISTERS approved €40 million of funding for the European Commission's ambitious European satellite navigation system, calling for a detailed analysis of the cost benefits and the availability of financing before releasing further funds. Acting Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock has repeatedly sought the support of member states for the Galileo plan to deploy European satellites in space to help aeroplanes, trucks and ships pinpoint exactly where they are. He has called for €2.2-2.9 billion from the public and private sectors for the first phase of the project from 2000-2008, in a move aimed at reducing the EU's dependence on US and Russian-controlled systems.

KINNOCK called on EU governments to relinquish some of their power over air traffic control to a centralised body, as flight delays soar to record levels. “To ensure that air travel is more affordable, more efficient, more environmentally friendly and safer, we are going to have to pool sovereignty,” insisted the Acting Commissioner. Ministers urged the Commission to draw up a report on possible measures to solve the problem and to consider publishing regular reports on air traffic punctuality.

THE Council reached political agreement on a draft EU law laying down requirements for ports handling waste generated from ships and normally deposited at sea. Ministers noted that the incoming Finnish presidency was in a good position to launch “constructive informal contacts” with the European Parliament on the issue. The draft law would require all Union ports to have a plan for receiving and handling waste, and have the necessary equipment to collect waste from vessels normally docking at the port. It would also require all ships calling at a port to deliver their ship-generated refuse at that port unless they had enough storage capacity for it to be delivered elsewhere.

MINISTERS unanimously agreed on the need to include seaports and inland ports in the Trans-European Networks (TENS) scheme, which has so far concentrated on creating links across the EU through a vast network of roads and rail. There was widespread agreement that transport infrastructure should remain the responsibility of the member states, local regional planning authorities and, in certain cases, private industry. Diplomats said that since the development of seaports and inland ports was predominantly market-driven, identifying which networks should be included in the TENS would help the private and public sectors in making long-term investment decisions.