WRITTEN QUESTION P-0311/99

by Eolo Parodi (PPE) to the Commission

(10 February 1999)

Subject: Edinburgh-Palermo motorway and completion of the A12

For reasons which are not clear, the route of the Edinburgh-Palermo motorway, which is one of the major North-South arteries of strategic importance for the whole of Europe, is being cut short by a stretch of approximately 180 kilometres between Rosignano and Civitavecchia in Italy.This is creating a bottleneck at both national and Community level which is having negative repercussions on the economic, social and commercial development of the Alto Tirreno.The freight traffic to and from the ports and airports of this area and the flows of traffic crossing Italy from North to South cannot be properly regulated if this section is not completed. The fact that the A1 motorway, a major artery enabling the bottleneck in the Tyrrhenian coastal area to be bypassed, is at saturation point (especially between Bologna and Florence) and no longer able to cope with demand should also be taken into account.

The completion of the A12 Tyrrhenian motorway between Rosignano and Civitavecchia is therefore clearly absolutely essential for optimum connections between the Tyrrhenian coastal area and Central and Northern Europe, in order to safeguard the functioning of important port (Genoa, La Spezia, Carrara, Leghorn and Civitavecchia) and airport infrastructures (Genoa, Pisa, Grosseto and Fiumicino) and as a solution to the highway engineering problems of the Bologna-Florence motorway.

In view of the above:

1. Does the Commission regard completion of the Edinburgh-Palermo motorway as of primary importance to the European Union?

2. Does the Commission therefore believe that as part of the revision of the TENs the building of the stretch between Rosignano and Civitavecchia should be one of the priority European projects?

3. Does the Commission take the view that at national level too the Italian Government should give a specific undertaking that it will finish the A12 at long last?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(16 March 1999)

1. The road system from Edinburgh to Palermo is included in the Trans-European network - transport (TEN-T) guidelines as a project of common interest in Annex I of Decision no 1692/96/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the Trans-European transport network(1). In particular the section between Rossignano and Civitavecchia is shown as a planned road and therefore could benefit from Community financial support on the request of the Member States concerned.

2. The revision of the TEN-T guidelines will be preceded by a report in the form of a white paper which inter alia will identify the ways in which the TEN-T guidelines should be changed. It is therefore premature, at this stage, to draw any conclusion relating to the updating of the list of specific projects of Annex III.

3. Member States are responsible for the implementation of projects of common interest identified in the guidelines and for setting priorities in their national plans. The ultimate decision on the upgrading of the Rossignano-Civitavecchia section is, consequently, for the Italian government.

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996.