No C 343/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation setting the time limit and conditions for 
the achievement of financial balance by railway undertakings; the proposal for a Council 
Regulation amending Decision 75/327/EEC on the improvement of the situation of railway 
undertakings and the harmonization of rules governing financial relations between such 
undertakings and States and the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation 
(EEC) No 1191/69 on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent in the 
concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway 
The texts referred to the Committee have been published in Official Journal of the 
European Communities Nos C 37 of 28 February 1981, page 7 et seq. and C 268 of 
20 October 1981, page 11. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 6 and 13 February 1981, the Council referred the abovementioned proposals to the 
Economic and Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
191st plenary session held in Brussels on 28 and 29 October 1981. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, and in particular 
Articles 75 and 94 thereof, 
Having regard to the requests made by the Council 
on 6 and 13 February 1981 for an opinion on the 
aforementioned proposals(l), 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 1191/69 of 26 June 1969 on action by Member 
States concerning the obligations inherent in the 
concept of a public service in transport by rail, road 
and inland waterway (2), 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 1192/69 of 26 June 1969 on common rules for the 
normalization of the accounts of railway 
undertakings^), 
(!) OJ No C 37, 20. 2. 1981, p. 7 et seq. and OJ No C 268, 
20. 10. 1981, p. 11. 
(2) OJ No L 156, 28.6. 1969, p. 1. 
(3) OJ No L 156, 28. 6. 1969, p. 8. Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 1107/70 of 4 June 1970 on the granting of aids for 
transport by road, rail and inland waterway (4), as 
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1473/75 (5), 
Having regard to Council Decision 75/327/EEC of 
20 May 1975 on the improvement of the situation of 
railway undertakings and the harmonization of rules 
governing financial relations between such 
undertakings and States (6), and in particular 
Article 15 (1) and (2) thereof, 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 2830/77 of 12 December 1977 on the measures 
necessary to achieve comparability between the 
accounting systems and annual accounts of railway 
undertakings (7), 
Having regard to the decision taken by its chairman 
on 13 February and 25 March 1981, instructing the 
Section for Transport and Communications to draw 
(4) OJ NoL 130, 15.6. 1970, p. 1. 
(5) OJ NoL 152, 12.6. 1975, p. 1. 
(6) OJ NoL 152, 12.6. 1975, p. 3. 
(7) OJ No L 334, 24. 12. 1977, p. 13. 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/7 
up a report and an opinion on these subjects 
(Article 22 of the Rules of Procedure), 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by that Section 
at its 140th meeting on 14 October 1981, 
Having regard to the report of the rapporteur, 
Mr Hennig, 
Having regard to the discussion at its meeting on 
28 October 1981 (191st plenary session of 28 and 
29 October 1981), 
Whereas an urgent solution must be found to the 
railways' financial problems, which have grown 
considerably worse in 1981 since the Economic and 
Social Committee started its deliberations; whereas 
in the present economic plight financial problems are 
widespread and are not confined to the railways; 
whereas the railways are particularly badly hit 
because the present deterioration in their situation 
has been exacerbated by the fact that they were 
already in a sorry financial state; 
Whereas conditions and deadlines for the 
achievement of financial balance must be laid down; 
whereas this must be done by the Member States and 
the railways themselves, acting in good time; 
whereas, since it may not be possible to break even in 
one go by 1 January 1990, it will be necessary to 
reduce the railways' deficits gradually by fixed 
percentages; 
Whereas the railways' financial problems must be 
viewed in the context of government policy and the 
tasks incumbent upon the railways; whereas the 
opinion is confined to the proposals' financial 
rehabilitation plan, especially as a more thorough 
look will be taken at the railways later on in 
connection with the Commission's memorandum of 
19 December 1980 on 'Community railway policy: 
review and outlook for the 1980s', 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
with one vote against: 
The Committee approves the aforementioned draft 
Regulations subject to the following comments and 
proposed amendments. 1. Proposal for a Council Regulation setting the time 
limit and conditions for the achievement of financial 
balance by railway undertakings 
(a) Suitability of the proposed guidelines for 
calculating future infrastructure aid (Article 4 of 
the Commission proposal) 
The Committee welcomes the Commission's 
endeavours to lay down clearly defined criteria in the 
field of infrastructure aid. However, it fears that the 
formulae proposed for this purpose might be difficult 
to apply. The processing of the statistics will also 
come up against a number of difficulties in all the 
Member States. Furthermore, the Committee notes 
that no allowance is made for internal or external 
social costs. 
(b) Rules for State financial intervention to co ver the 
deficits of railway undertakings (Article 5 of the 
Commission proposal) 
The Committee thinks it is right for the complete 
normalization of the accounts of railway 
undertakings to be stipulated in Article 5 of the 
Commission draft. However, this will probably not 
be possible by the proposed deadline, i. e. the end of 
1982. The Committee therefore considers that this 
deadline must be extended, especially as the 
Commission proposal stipulates that any remaining 
deficit can only be made up after this date if the 
normalization of accounts has been completed. 
The Committee thinks that the proposed 
normalization of accounts should be closely linked to 
a programme for making up debts and interest 
charges, which are a constant drain on the resources 
of the railways. 
(c) Achievement of financial balance by railway 
undertakings (Article 6 of the Commission 
proposal) 
The Committee concedes that it is necessary and 
sensible to set a deadline for the achievement of 
financial balance by the railways of the individual 
Member States. Bearing in mind, however, that 
conditions in some Member States differ very 
considerably from those in others, it is rather 
doubtful whether the Commission's final deadline 
for attaining this objective, i.e. 1 January 1990, can 
be met. 
Nevertheless, the Committee endorses the setting of 
this deadline for the railways' financial rehabilitation 
because it fears that there would be a further 
No C 343/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
worsening of the already extremely unfavourable 
financial situation if a pessimistic line were adopted 
and no deadline whatsoever set. 
The Committee considers that only a step-by-step 
approach to rehabilitation is likely to succeed. It calls 
for the preparation of regular rehabilitation plans 
which are drawn up in consultation with the State 
authorities and are updated and adapted at least 
every two years. The rehabilitation plans should form 
a self-contained part of the more extensive business 
programmes. 
2. Proposal for a Council Regulation amending the 
Decision 73/327/EEC on the improvement of the 
situation of railway undertakings and the 
harmonization of rules governing financial relations 
between such undertakings and States 
Basically the Committee agrees with the 
Commission's ideas regarding the railways' business 
programmes (Articles 3 and 4 of the Decision of 
20 May 1975) and financial programme (Article 13 of 
the Decision). It considers, however, that the 
multiannual financial programme — i. e. the actual 
rehabilitation plan — should be updated regularly 
(i. e. at least every two years) and its success should 
Done at Brussels, 28 October 1981. also be monitored in order to ensure that financial 
balance is gradually achieved. 
3. Proposal for a Council Regulation amending 
Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 on action by 
Member States concerning the obligations inherent 
in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, 
road and inland waterway 
The Committee welcomes the Commission's attempt 
to lay down criteria for a precise definition of the 
concept of public service obligations and the allied 
concept of 'adequate transport services involving the 
least cost to the general public'. 
All the efforts made in the past to come up with an 
all-embracing definition of a public service have, 
however, been a failure. Nevertheless, it must point 
out that structural differences between the Member 
States mean that the term 'public services' may be 
interpreted completely differently from one Member 
State to another. The Committee therefore 
emphasizes the need from case to case to vary or add 
to the criteria which the Commission (cf. the Annex 
to the draft Regulation) proposes using to define 
'adequate transport services' and 'least cost to the 
general public'. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE