WRITTEN QUESTION P-0304/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 February 2001)

Subject: Mont Blanc tunnel

It is planned to reopen the Mont Blanc road tunnel, one of the main routes through the Alps forming part of the trans-European network, during the second half of this year.

However, local inhabitants are concerned, based on predictions that goods traffic through the Alps will increase substantially in the coming years, that reopening the tunnel will cause serious damage to the environment, in breach of the Alpine Convention, which the European Union has ratified and to which a protocol on the sensitive issue of transport was added a few months ago.

Two options seem to be emerging, the first involving a total ban on heavy goods vehicles and the second a quota system, together with the safety measures for the tunnel made necessary in the wake of the review conducted following the accident.

What information is available on likely increases in goods traffic through the Alps in future years, and what are the Commission's views on the transport protocol to the Alpine Convention and on the two possible options of banning heavy goods vehicles or introducing quotas for them?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(23 March 2001)

The Commission is fully aware of the environmental concerns over alpine corridors but notes that actions must be balanced to take into account economic needs. The Mont Blanc is one of the most crucial transit routes through the Alps. It is a good example showing that appropriate action is needed both on rail and road to protect the environment while ensuring the free movement of goods. The principle of free movement of goods does not allow for a total ban on heavy goods vehicles, even if the Commission fully recognises that the free movement of goods and sustainable transport have to go hand in hand. Neither can the Commission lend support to solutions that are quota-based, as Community legislation makes international carriage of goods by road conditional on the possession of a quota-free Community transport authorisation(1). Rather, the Commission has promoted in the past and will continue to promote, a series of coherent measures that aim at reducing the negative effects of road traffic throughout the Community. Such an ambitious goal can only be reached by a coherent package of complementary measures, including, inter alia, technical standards (improving environmental and safety requirements, notably in tunnels), infrastructure investments,

pricing instruments (aligning transport charges with the real cost of transport in all modes) as well as measures to increase the efficiency of the transport system (especially by optimising intermodality) and strengthen the competitiveness of rail transport in general. The Commission is in particular committed to support the priority project between Lyon and Turino on the trans-European transport network and has already provided up to 60 million for the project, which amounts to 50 % of the studies carried out so far. This future tunnel-based rail link will contribute to reducing road freight traffic in the Alps.

In the view of the Commission the transport protocol to the Alpine Convention provides a framework, based on the precautionary principle, the preventive principle and the polluter-pays principle, for ensuring sustainable mobility and protection of the environment, for all modes of transport, in the Alpine region. The Commission considers that by signing the Protocol on the Implementation of the Alpine Convention in the field of Transport, the Community would give an important political signal to all parties that signature and ratification of the Protocol should be a priority. That is why the Commission has recently made a proposal for a Council Decision on the signature of this Protocol(2).

Concerning statistics on freight traffic in the Alpine Arc, the average annual growth between 1993 and 1998 is estimated at 3,8 %. The Commission is aware of several forecasts that estimate the resulting annual freight traffic growth as varying from 2 % to 5 %, depending on the assumptions. This expected growth shows the necessity to make sure that the Lyon-Turino tunnel enters into operation as soon as possible.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 881/92 of 26 March 1992 on access to the market in the carriage of goods by road within the Community to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across the territory of one or more Member States (OJ L 95, 9.4.1992).

(2) COM(2001) 18 final.