HL Deb 12 December 2001 vol 629 cc221-4WA
Lord Gregson

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the Transport Council held on 7 December. [HL1978]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton

The Transport Council met in Brussels on 7 December and my right honourable friend the Minister for Transport (Mr Spellar) represented the United Kingdom.

The main focus of the Council was on the Galileo satellite navigation project and on aviation security. We are pleased to say that on both issues the outcome was satisfactory from our point of view.

On Galileo, Ministers were asked to agree to the release of funding from the Trans-European Networks (TENs) budget to enable the project to proceed to its next phase, and to agree on the management structure that the project would have. My right honourable friend was among Ministers to press for deferral of decisions on the project. He drew attention to the concerns which the recently issued PriceWaterhouseCoopers report had raised, on public sector funding, overall cost and lack of commercial benefits. The report made clear that any decision on the joint undertaking would have funding implications, so he argued that a decision on this should not be taken while funding issues were not sufficiently clear. There was also some discussion of the details of the draft regulation to establish the joint undertaking, but a majority of member states declined the Commission's request for a vote to agree the text. Decisions on the next phase of Galileo were deferred and no formal conclusions were agreed. The Presidency indicated that the Galileo project might be discussed further at the European Council at Laeken later this month.

The Council reached a political agreement on a regulation establishing a Community framework for airport security standards and monitoring. The Commission had initially insisted on arrangements to oversee member states which were operating more stringent security measures. But in response to concerns which we and others expressed about the need for freedom to respond to perceived security threats, it accepted that member states should be free to apply additional measures, provided they were in accordance with Community law. This important measure should ensure that high standards are in place throughout the EU and create a safer environment for air passengers using EU airports.

There was discussion of a draft directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation, on the transposition of JAR-OPS standards into EC law, and on a draft directive on the training of aviation cabin crew. No decisions were reached on the first two issues, and the Presidency concluded that no progress was possible on the third. The UK view is that provision for cabin crew training should be included in the JAR-OPS legislation.

The Council noted the difficult economic situation faced by the air transport sector. On war-risk insurance, member states wished to return to a market approach, but the industry was not ready for that yet. In the interim the Commission was prepared to continue to approve state aid measures up to end March 2002, subject to monthly reviews. Ministers also noted the need to consider urgently ways to address possible unfair competition from third country carriers; the Commission will present a proposal in the near future.

The Council noted the importance of making early progress on the recent proposal for a directive to replace the hushkits regulation.

The Council reached political agreement on the regulation to establish a European maritime safety agency, which was proposed as part of the ERIKA II package of maritime safety proposals. We are content with the text as agreed.

The Council agreed the text of a directive to simplify reporting formalities for ships leaving and entering Community ports. It was able to accept the European Parliament's position on the proposal, and therefore reached agreement at the First Reading.

My right honourable friend and the French Minister, with support from the Commissioner, stressed the need for member states to make quick progress on ratifying the Hazardous and Noxious Substances convention and other maritime pollution compensation conventions, as the December 2000 Council Conclusions had urged.

The Council noted a Presidency progress report on the proposal to update Regulation 3820/85 on commercial drivers' hours and rest periods. Further consideration of this will pass to the Spanish Presidency.

My right honourable friend maintained the UK s opposition to the proposal to extend the fitting of speed-limiting devices to goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes and to coaches/buses with over eight passenger seats regardless of weight. He argued that we were not in favour of a threshold below 7.5 tonnes, but that an extension of European regulation of 7.5 tonnes would be in line with UK law. We expressed our doubt that the safety and environmental consequences of fitting limiters to lighter vehicles would be beneficial. The Presidency concluded that Council adopted the proposal by qualified majority. The proposal will now be considered by the European Parliament early in the new year.

The Council reached political agreement on a draft directive setting out initial and ongoing training requirements for professional drivers.

Following the recent fires in Alpine road tunnels, the Commission reported to the Council that it would propose legislation early in 2002 to improve safety. The proposals will address issues relating to technical equipment, driver information, traffic controls and training of operational staff. We await further detail of the proposals, and will need to examine them carefully.

The Presidency presented its conclusions on the Commission's White Paper on transport policy, published earlier this year. The Presidency largely agreed with the White Paper's assessment of the negative impact of uneven development of different transport modes, and believed that modal shift and enhancement of quality should be promoted. It hoped the Council would further examine the White Paper and looked forward to Commission proposals to implement the priorities emerging from further discussion.

Under "Other Business", my right honourable friend raised the issue of the new digital tachograph and the deficiencies in the regulation on which the specification is based. I had previously written to the Commissioner asking her to propose amendments to address these shortcomings, which would create serious enforcement difficulties. Other Ministers at the Council supported me in asking the Commission to re-examine the issue and bring forward a new proposal to amend the regulation. My right honourable friend expressed his disappointment at the Commission's response, which did not address the concerns we had put forward.

Finally, the German Minister spoke of the safety benefits of ensuring that rigid bull bars were not fixed to road vehicles above 2.5 tonnes, through voluntary agreements with industry. The Commission agreed that this was a useful suggestion, but stressed that it was the responsibility of the Internal Market Commissioner.

No votes were taken at this Council.