WRITTEN QUESTION P-2470/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(3 September 2001)

Subject: Environmental protection measures applying to heavy vehicle traffic in the Alpine region

Until 2003 heavy vehicles belonging to companies based in EU Member States will be subject to restrictions when moving in transit through Austrian territory. The system is based on the payment of ecopoints, which vary according to the environment-friendliness of the vehicles, and its object is to reduce the pollution that they cause. Restrictions on TIR traffic are also in force on Swiss territory. Under the agreement between the EU and Switzerland the weight limit for lorries is to be raised initially to 34 tonnes and later, from 2005, to 40 tonnes. Pending that liberalisation Switzerland issues a limited number of licences to the EU for TIR vehicles up to 40 tonnes on payment of an ecotax, which is being reinvested in the projected new Swiss railway lines.

Nothing comparable to the Austrian and Swiss restrictions applies at present to road traffic crossing from France into Italy and vice versa. The result can currently be seen on the Fréjus tunnel route, which has been hopelessly congested since the closure of the Mont Blanc tunnel.

The fact that the Mont Blanc tunnel is due to reopen by the end of this year has revived discussion on the question whether TIR traffic should be allowed to pass through the tunnel or, at the very least, vehicle numbers restricted. Mrs Loyola de Palacio has already commented on this subject in her answer to a previous Written Question (P-0304/01(1)).

Not least in the light of the transport Protocol to the Alpine Convention, does the Commission not believe that specific measures should likewise be laid down for the Mont Blanc and Fréjus tunnels to serve the same purpose as the restrictions now in force in Austria and Switzerland?

(1) OJ C 261 E, 18.9.2001, p. 83.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(1 October 2001)

After several years of negotiations, the Transport Protocol of the Alpine Convention was finally agreed and signed in October 2000 by alpine countries including those Member States whose territories include the Alpine region.

Subsequently, the Commission made a proposal to the Council in early 2001 for signature of the Transport Protocol on behalf of the Community(1).

This proposal is now being discussed in the Council, with a view to completing the procedure under the Belgian Presidency. The relevant ratification procedures will then have to be completed for the Transport Protocol to enter into force.

One important provision in the Protocol is included in its Article 11, which restricts the construction of new large roads for transalpine traffic. Such provision is consistent with the common policies for transport and the transeuropean transport network, which aim, inter alia, at revitalizing rail transport and rail infrastructure and fostering a modal shift from road to rail, inland waterway and maritime transport.

The idea of charging heavy road traffic in order to contribute to the construction of transport infrastructure dedicated to environmentally-friendly transport modes is envisaged in the White Paper on a common transport policy agreed by the Commission on 12 September 2001(2).

In that respect, it is proposed that the current Community rules, notably Directive 1999/62/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 1999 on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures(3) (Eurovignette), need to be replaced by a modern framework for infrastructure-use charging systems so as to ensure fair competition between transport modes and avoiding distortions of the internal market.

The Commission shall introduce in 2002 a proposal for a Directive covering this new infrastructure charging policy, which, if agreed by Parliament and Council, could be applied in the whole Community territory, including the alpine zone where the Mont-Blanc and Frejus tunnels are operated.

Indeed, in the context of the Trans-European Transport network, the Commission attaches a very high priority to the completion of the specific rail projects crossing the Alps, namely the Lyon-Turin and the Brenner axis, which will offer an alternative to road transport

(1) COM(2001) 18 final.

(2) COM(2001) 370 final.

(3) OJ L 187, 20.7.1999.