WRITTEN QUESTION E-1093/02

by Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN) to the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Priority in the Commission's transport policy

The conclusions on transport policy adopted by the European Council at its meeting in Barcelona on 14 and 15 March 2002 quite rightly drew attention to the long-standing problem of the bottlenecks existing in regions with a high traffic density such as the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Baltic Sea.

However, in contrast with the Commission White Paper on European transport policy for 2010, Chapter 2 of which is entitled Eliminating bottlenecks, with particular reference to the above regions, the new terminology used in the Barcelona conclusions is puzzling and raises a number of doubts, given that point 38 of the conclusions states that the new priority projects must seek among other things to reduce bottlenecks in these regions.

Given the clear disparity in objectives, can the Commission:

1. explain how the apparently different strategies established by the European Council and by the Commission fit in with one another?

2. clarify, if possible, its transport policy guidelines for the coming years, with particular reference to the above areas?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(31 May 2002)

The Barcelona European Council of 15 and 16 March 2002 requested the Council and the European Parliament to adopt, by December 2002, the revision of the Guidelines [] on Trans-European Transport Networks, including new priority projects identified by the Commission, with a view to [] reducing bottlenecks in regions such as, among others, the Alps and the Pyrenees and the Baltic Sea.

The Commission considers this statement to be completely consistent with the objectives of the White Paper European transport policy for 2010: time to decide.

Practical objectives concerning bottlenecks are outlined, in particular, in the proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 1692/96/EC of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network(1), which seeks to focus Community action on a limited number of new cross-sector priorities aimed at reducing bottlenecks and on priority projects, including the unfinished projects adopted by the European Council meetings in Essen on 9 and 10 December 1994 and in Dublin on 13 and 14 December 1996 as well as eight new projects. In all, four of these new priority projects involve developing new rail routes specifically designed to reduce bottlenecks in the Alps and the Pyrenees (projects 1, 3, 6 and 16).

In the Baltic Sea region, the Commission expects the new priority project for a fixed link between Germany and Denmark (the Fehmarn Belt, project 20) to help to improve access to the Baltic region. The other bottlenecks affecting this region will be alleviated by developing motorways of the sea. The Commission has already proposed a Regulation to set up the Marco Polo programme which, when it becomes operational in 2003, should make financial aid available for the launch of innovative services incorporating short sea shipping.

As announced in the White Paper, the Commission also intends, as part of the second revision of the guidelines on trans-European transport networks, a proposal for which is scheduled for 2004, to incorporate motorways of the sea into the trans-European network in support of infrastructure projects. This innovative solution will also benefit regions such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, where routes crossing mountains can be avoided by using alternative maritime routes.

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996.