§ Sir Rhodes BoysonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the outcome of the meeting with the European Community Transport Council on 30 October.
§ Mr. ParkinsonMy hon. Friend the Minister for Public Transport attended the meeting of the European Council of Transport Ministers which was held in Luxembourg on 30 October.
Most of the items considered by the Council concerned inland transport. The Council discussed the recent disputes affecting certain border crossings and the transit negotiations with third countries—Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. It also discussed measures to be taken in the event of a crisis in the road haulage sector and an increase in the Community quotas of road haulage permits but did not come to any firm decisions on these two items. They will be discussed again at the December Transport Council. The Council did agree, however, that the Commission should be given a mandate, in consultation with the member states, to negotiate with non-EC countries on the alignment of the drivers hours' rules in the Community and AETR—the European agreement concerning the work of crews of vehicles engaged in international road transport). The Council also agreed a resolution on setting up a high level group to study the prospects for a European combined transport network.
At the June Transport Council, member states had reached agreement in principle on an ad hoc three-year 98W programme for EC transport infrastructure funding until the end of 1992. Some points, however, had remained outstanding, and the Council on 30 October made good progress towards resolving these. It now seems likely that the proposal will be finally adopted shortly
The Council reached a general agreement on the text of a report to the European Council concerning the memorandum produced by the Netherlands entitled "A Transport Policy for Europe". The report welcomed the objective reaffirmed by the memorandum that an internal market in the transport sector should be achieved between now and 1 January 1993, and set out the Council's view of the lines along which Community transport policy should be developed. The Council also discussed fiscal harmonisation and the length of road trains, without coming to agreement on either topic.
Under "other business", my hon. Friend raised the issue of airport slot allocations and stressed the Government's concern that the Commission's proposed block exemption regulation was premature in creating new policy in this area in view of the fact that in the near future the Council was due to consider another Commission proposal on common rules for slot allocations. Other issues also briefly discussed included the aviation negotiations with Norway and Sweden and the nationality clause in air services agreements.