Transport Council (Hansard, 5 November 1997)

§ Dr. Strang

The Transport Council met in Luxembourg on 9 October. I represented the United Kingdom.

The Council opened with a session of structured dialogue with Transport Ministers of the applicant central European countries—CECs. A report by the Commission on the recent Pan-European conference in Helsinki was followed by discussion of issues relating to market access. Three areas for future work were identified: the need to strengthen co-operation between the Community and the CECs; developing the mobility of citizens; and the need to take account of all modes of transport in negotiations in market access.

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The Council discussed air transport negotiations with the US. The Commission's view was that, although Community discussions with the US on regulatory issues had been useful, further progress would not be made unless market access was brought within the scope of the negotiations. The UK noted that success in its current bilateral negotiations with the US would bring benefits for passengers from the UK and the rest of the EU. The UK and other member states expressed doubts about the Commission's approach. The presidency concluded that there should be further work by the Commission, and a report back to the December Council.

The Council took note of the Commission's progress report on air transport negotiations with the CECs.

The Council debated a draft directive on airport charges. The debate focused on two aspects of the directive: the use of charges for cross-subsidy of smaller regional airports; and the variability of charges to reflect environmental considerations. The Council invited the Committee of Permanent Representatives to continue its examination of the proposal.

The Council reached unanimous political agreement on a directive on access to the occupation of road transport operator. This directive will raise the standards required of lorry, bus and coach operators in the Community.

The Council agreed conclusions urging greater emphasis on the public-private partnerships approach to Trans-European Network projects.

The Commission presented its White Paper on extension of the provisions of working time legislation to excluded sectors, including transport. It was noted that consultation with interested parties was still in progress. The UK, with some other member states, urged a case-by-case approach to the extension to transport, taking account of the needs of each form of transport.

The Commission presented the case for a Community-wide blood alcohol limit of 50 mg per 100 ml. The UK expressed its determination to further reduce alcohol-related roads deaths, and noted that it was important to consider other ways of reducing drink-drive accidents as well.

There was a discussion of weekend lorry bans in member states; the Commission undertook to produce draft legislation on this issue by the end of the year. The Commission also presented its draft regulation extending the Community's competition rules to air services to third countries.