Kinnock offers Paris new deal on rail freight

Date: 01/07/1999

By Renée Cordes
ACTING Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock is proposing a compromise which would give France a four-year transition period for opening its international freight markets to competitors.

This olive branch is aimed at persuading Paris to sign up to a raft of measures designed to lure traffic off Europe's crowded roads and on to the railways.

Under the European Commission's plan, freight operators would be given greater access to rail networks and more efficient charging systems would be introduced which took into account the environmental and social costs of operating trains.

Despite the German presidency's failure to get agreement on the proposals at a meeting of EU transport ministers last month, the Acting Commissioner's aides insist they remain optimistic that a deal on the least controversial part of the package can be reached in the near future and a wider consensus on the rest by the end of the year.

"The next presidency will be in a very good position to negotiate the financial compromise." said one. He added that a deal on the infrastructure package could be reached within "months, if not weeks", paving the way for agreement on the rest of the market-opening proposals.

Hopes of an accord at last month's meeting were dashed when French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot refused to sign up to the plan, arguing that it would damage Europe's railway network financially. However, Commission officials believe it is just a matter of time before he agrees to go along with the reforms.

But some EU diplomats are far more pessimistic about the chances of making swift progress, warning that Finland might not be able to broker a deal simply by dangling an exemption in front of France.

"Liberalisation is not going to happen very quickly if it even happens at all." said one. "If Germany could not steamroll France, then certainly Finland will not be able to. It looks now as though the French will block anything of that nature, and the situation of France being put into a corner should not arise again."

Finnish Transport Minister Olli-Pekka Heinonen has said he will make rail infrastructure a top priority during his country's presidency of the Union. A Finnish diplomat welcomed the proposal to grant France an exemption, but stressed that the idea came from the Commission and not from Helsinki.

"There are several options, but this would be one of them." he said. "It may be possible to consider offering different degrees of liberalisation."