Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the distribution of authorisations among Member States received through the Agreements between the European Community and the Republic of Bulgaria and between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary establishing certain conditions for the carriage of goods by road and the promotion of Combined Transport'
Date: 2000-04-27
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: Bulgaria, European Community, Hungary, carriage of goods, combined transport, road transport

16.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 168/13

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council concerning the distribution of authorisations among Member
States received through the Agreements between the European Community and the Republic of
Bulgaria and between the European Community and the Republic of Hungary establishing certain
conditions for the carriage of goods by road and the promotion of Combined Transport’

(2000/C 168/04)

On 10 April 2000 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 71
of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 April 2000. The rapporteur
was Mr Kielman.

At its 372nd plenary session (meeting of 27 April 2000) the Economic and Social Committee adopted
the following opinion by 111 votes to one with one abstention.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
On 7 December 1995, the Council authorised the
Commission to negotiate one or more agreements on road
transit with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria with a view to
resolving the problem of road goods transport relations
between Greece and the other Member States, in particular
through the mutual exchange of road transport authorisations.

1.2.
The Commission initially endeavoured to conclude a
multilateral agreement. However, the three countries con-
cerned preferred separate agreements. These will lapse auto-
matically when the three countries accede to the European
Union.

1.3.
The Commission proposal is based on the Proposal for
a Council Decision concerning the signature and conclusion
of the Agreements between the European Community and the
Republic of Bulgaria establishing certain conditions for the
carriage of goods by road and the promotion of Combined
Transport (COM(1999) 666 final). However, the ESC opinion
covers only the Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council concerning the distribution of
authorisations among Member States received through the
Agreements between the European Community and the
Republic of Bulgaria and between the European Community
and the Republic of Hungary establishing certain conditions
for the carriage of goods by road and the promotion of
Combined Transport (COM(1999) 667 final).

1.4.
The Commission has reached agreement with Hungary
and Bulgaria, but not yet with Romania. That is why the
proposal under consideration relates only to a Council decision
to conclude agreements with Hungary and Bulgaria. The
Commission certainly intends to reach agreement with Rom-
ania as well in the near future, since the practical value of the
agreements with Hungary and Bulgaria would otherwise be
minimal.

1.5.
Since in the past high, discriminatory fiscal and
levies were often imposed on road transport in
parafiscal
Eastern Europe, the agreements lay down that only non-
discriminatory levies or tolls linked with the use of infrastruc-
ture may be charged. No special
levies or taxes may be
introduced for the transport activities themselves.

1.6.
It is expressly laid down in the agreements that the
authorisations for transit through Bulgaria and Hungary can
be used only by vehicles which meet at least the Euro 1
standard.

In the proposal for a Council Decision to conclude the
1.7.
agreements with Bulgaria and Hungary, it is noted that the
13 000 authorisations received annually from Bulgaria and
the 12 500 received annually from Hungary will be distributed
among Member States by a separate Regulation of
the
European Parliament and of the Council. The purpose, there-
fore, of the proposal under consideration is to distribute these
authorisations among the Member States.

2. General comments

2.1.
The Commission has used the Hungarian transit stat-
istics as the basis for calculating the distribution of transit
authorisations.

Given that the Union’s objective in the negotiations is
2.2.
to facilitate transit
traffic between Greece and the other
Member States along a corridor through Bulgaria, Romania
and Hungary, the Hungarian transit statistics are the most
relevant. At all events these statistics must clearly show that
journeys with destinations ‘in the other Member States’ have
passed through the complete corridor comprising Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary. Special attention must be paid to
journeys passing through the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

16.6.2000

The available Hungarian transit statistics are subdivided

2.3.
by:

— the country of departure;

— the country of registration of the vehicle.

3.3.
The Commission proposes to give a fixed allocation of
100 authorisations to each Member State, this being just under
1 % of the total authorisations available, and to distribute the
remaining authorisations among Member States in proportion
to the actual number of transit journeys through Hungary
made in the first three quarters of 1998.

On the basis of these data it is possible to select those journeys
which:

— start in Greece;

— are carried out by vehicles registered in each Member State.

3.3.1.
The Committee takes the view that, given that four
Member States had no such transit journeys at all in the first
three quarters of 1998 and another six Member States had
fewer than five, the flat-rate 100 authorisations for each
Member State proposed by the Commission is far too high. It
suggests that the number be reduced to 50. That would leave
an extra 750 authorisations which could be distributed in
proportion to the number of transit journeys in the first three
quarters of 1998.

2.3.1.
Given that the Hungarian transit statistics for the
first three quarters of 1998 are available and usable, the
Commission proposes to use them as a basis for the distri-
bution among the Member States.

In the Committee’s view such a distribution would be fairer
and more realistic.

2.3.2.
The Committee takes the view that, given the short-
age of reliable statistics on road transit traffic, the decision to
use the available Hungarian statistics for the first three quarters
of 1998 provides the most relevant data.

This means that the number of flat-rate authorisations
3.4.
would be 750 instead of the 1 500 proposed by the Com-
mission,
and in addition that Greece would receive
12 109 authorisations for use in Bulgaria (instead of 11 368)
and 11 614 for use in Hungary (instead of 10 874).

2.3.3.
It wishes to point out, in any case, that the partici-
pation of Romania is essential for the proper operation of the
corridor between Greece and other Member States. In this
context it therefore calls on the Commission to pursue the
negotiations with Romania energetically and seek to complete
them as soon as possible.

3.4.1.
This method of calculation also does more justice to
the consideration which the Commission itself includes in its
proposal
for a regulation, namely that ‘the allocation of
authorisations should be based on criteria that take full account
of existing land transport flows between Greece and the other
Member States’.

3. Specific comments

3.1.
On the basis of the Hungarian transit statistics, the
Commission notes that the total number of transits through
Hungary with their origin in Greece by vehicles registered in
one of the Member States in the first three quarters of 1998
was 6 723. Of these journeys 6 646 — i.e. almost 99 % —
were made by vehicles registered in Greece. For four Member
States — Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal — no such
journeys were recorded (see appendix).

3.2.
On the basis of these — provisional — data, the
Commission states that it ‘is not considered opportune that
some 99 % of the authorisations be given to Greece’. The
Committee takes the view that objective criteria must be
followed in order to reflect the real situation. It would therefore
urge the Commission to obtain more precise data as soon as
possible, giving a reliable picture so that Greece can be treated
in the same way as any other Member State.

3.5.
The Committee supports the idea expressed by the
Commission in Article 4 of the draft regulation: that before
15 September of each year the Member States should return
to the Commission the authorisations not likely to be used
before the end of that year, so that they can be made available
to other Member States.

3.6.
If the Commission agrees with the ESC’s idea for a
fairer distribution key, this would entail a corresponding
modification of the annex to the draft regulation.

4. Summary and conclusions

The Committee takes the view that the Commission’s
4.1.
choice of the Hungarian transit statistics provides a suitable
statistical basis for a possible distribution of the authorisations.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 168/15

4.2.
In order to make authorisations usable in practice, the
Committee regards an early agreement with Romania as being
of great importance.

4.3.
On the proposed distribution, the Committee points
out that, when the statistics used show that one Member State
would be entitled to a high percentage of the authorisations,
that number of authorisations should in fact be allocated to
that state.

4.4. Moreover, bearing in mind the small number of
available authorisations, the Committee thinks it undesirable

Brussels, 27 April 2000.

a

flat-rate

each Member State

to give
allocation of
100 authorisations. It is clear from the available data that
many of the Member States have little or no road transit traffic
between Greece and other Member States. The Committee
regards a flat-rate allocation of 50 authorisations per Member
State as basically adequate.

4.5.
The Committee agrees with the Commission’s proposal
that unused authorisations should be sent back to the Com-
mission before 15 September each year, so that they can still
be used by Member States which need them.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI

APPENDIX

to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Distribution of authorisations between Member States

The most recent Hungarian transit statistics available relate to the first three quarters of 1998. The number of transits
of Hungary with origin ‘Greece’ by vehicles registered in one of the Member States in the first three quarters of 1998
were:

Country of Registration

Number of transits

Belgium

Denmark

Germany

Greece

Spain

France

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Austria

Portugal

Finland

Sweden

United Kingdom

2

6

20

6 646

0

1

0

1

0

29

11

0

1

4

2

Total

6 723