§ Sir Julian Ridsdaleasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement on the outcome of the European Community Transport Council on 15 and 16 December.
§ Mr. MooreI am glad to say that the Council agreed yesterday a package of four important shipping measures which lay the foundation of a common shipping policy. This represents a historic step forward in the development of the European Community and will create conditions for the British fleet to compete on more equal terms in world trade. In particular it will liberalise Community international trades, enable the Community to take concerted action to combat protectionism for third532W countries, counter unfair pricing practices particularly from state trading lines, and establish a competition regime for shipping.
The regulation on a freedom to provide shipping services in international trades to, from and between member states is the key instrument in the package. It provides for a progressive phasing out of unilateral cargo reservation and discriminatory cargo-sharing arrangements in bilateral agreements with third countries over the period leading up to the completion of the internal market which the Community has already decided shall be achieved by the end of 1992.
The Council was not able to reach agreement on the liberalisation of Community cabotage trades and I expect to make an announcement early in the new year of how we propose to pursue this in the United Kingdom's interests.
This package of regulations, while being of major importance to our shipping industry, is the first stage of the development of a common shipping policy. It was agreed that the Community should move straight to the further development of policy aimed both at the harmonisation of aids given by Community Governments to their merchant fleets and at ways of strengthening the position of the Community shipping industry in today's highly competitive international shipping market.
On the inland transport side, the Council agreed to increase each member state's quota of Community wide road haulage permits by 15 per cent. in 1987. A further increase up to 40 per cent. for 1987 could not be adopted owing to the lack of an opinion from the European Parliament and a reserve by one member state, but adoption should be possible early in the new year. The Council also agreed in principle to a regulation allocating 90 million ecu for transport infrastructure projects in individual member states, including two projects in the United Kingdom. This regulation is still subject to a United Kingdom reserve pending parliamentary scrutiny. A directive was adopted to streamline procedures for goods traffic at community frontiers, and the Council agreed a framework for further work to improve railway finances. Finally, the Council called on the Commission to do a report on port finances with a view to ensuring greater transparency of port accounts in the future.
On air transport, the Council again concentrated on a three-year first step towards the 1992 target date for full liberalisation. We were able to secure unanimous support for our proposals on capacity and a substantial majority for our ideas on market access. There was also usefulprogress on fares, where seven member states clearly support our efforts to allow cheaper travel, and only two are still totally opposed.
This means that at last there is solid progress in an area where the Community has failed to act for far too long. It puts the incoming Belgian presidency in a commanding position to complete a worthwhile first stage package.