European Council (Hansard, 13 December 1989)

§ Mr. Parkinson

The meeting on 4 and 5 December, which was attended by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, saw important progress made towards the establishment of a single market in transport in two areas.

First, the Council agreed an interim experiment for road haulage cabotage as a preliminary step to a full-scale regime from 1993. Although this is a small step in itself, it represents a major breakthrough in terms of liberalising cabotage generally.

Secondly, the Council expressed its commitment to agree measures to liberalise air transport. From June 1993, airlines will be able to set their own fares subject only to "double disapproval"—that is, unless the countries at both the ends of the route reject the proposed fares. In the meantime, the present fare approval system will be made more flexible. Similarly, bilateral capacity sharing will be abolished from the end of 1992, and further relaxation will be made in the interim. The council also committed itself to ensure that uniform licensing criteria are introduced by June 1992 giving airlines established in a country the right to a licence. Altogether, this provided a clear basis for more detailed work over the coming months with a view to Council agreement under the Irish presidency. The Council adopted a directive on training for drivers of dangerous goods. The United Kingdom, supported by certain other member states, registered our concern in the minutes that future technical adaption should be consistent with the standards of the ADR.

There were discussions but not agreements on the Commission's proposals for shipping "positive measures", and on the current state of negotiations with west African countries on shipping; on vehicles hired without drivers; on road safety; on driving and working hours; and on transport infrastructure. After a debate on Community railway policy, the Commission was invited to set up a working party to look at a high-speed rail network and the scope for technical harmonisation. The Commission reported the current state of play in its negotiations with Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia on transit. Under other business, there were brief references to transit quotas, and to lorry taxation.