Transport Council (Hansard, 21 March 1995)

§ Dr. Mawhinney

The Transport Council met in Brussels on 13 and 14 March. I represented the United Kingdom.

The Council took votes on two proposals. The first was on a mandate for the Commission to negotiate on an air transport agreement with Switzerland. The mandate proposed was more restrictive than the Government would have wished, and accordingly I voted against it, as did my Italian colleague. Other member states voted in favour, constituting a qualified majority. The Council approved a mandate for land transport without a vote. Negotiations under these mandates will begin shortly.

The Council also voted on a draft directive requiring undertakings involved in the transport of dangerous goods by road, rail or inland waterway to appoint a dangerous goods adviser. The United Kingdom alone voted against the measure, on the grounds that it would not add significantly to existing safety legislation and that no proper cost/benefit analysis had been carried out. Other member states supported the measure. The Council was thus deemed to have reached a common position, by qualified majority.

The Council reached a common position on a proposed directive aimed at harmonising the certification of inland waterway boatmasters.

The Council adopted resolutions on the promotion of rail and combined transport within the Community; on working hours and training of goods vehicle drives, calling on the Commission to report as soon as possible on its study of these issues; and on the use of non-EC aircraft and crew within the Community, on which the Commission is also carrying out a study. Council conclusions on relations in air transport between member states and the US were agreed.

The Council discussed European Community shipping policy, but came to no agreed conclusions. I set out the UK's policy objectives of ensuring open and competitive markets worldwide for shipowners and traders.

Encouraging progress was made on a proposed regulation to apply the international safety management code for roll-on/roll-off passenger ships to all such ships using Community ports. The measure was referred back to the Committee of Permanent Representatives for further discussion.

Other issues considered at the Council included trans-European networks, interoperability of the high speed rail network, transport research, airport ground handling facilities, the collection of maritime statistics, and relations with central and eastern European countries in regard to road and air transport.