2.12.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 311/173
(36)
As stated in Recital 30, the problem identified by the French authorities in this case includes the urgent need to reduce GHG emissions.
In its assessment of whether the Measure is not more restrictive than necessary to relieve the problem at issue, the Commission will look at whether the Measure is capable of attaining the objective- which is to contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions, and does not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it, taking into account whether other modes of transport provide appropriate levels of service to ensure the necessary connectivity.
(37)
In this context, the negative impacts on European citizens and connectivity of any restriction of traffic rights must be offset by the availability of affordable, convenient and more sustainable alternative transport modes.
(38)
As a preliminary remark, the Commission notes that a variety of legislative and non-legislative tools are being developed to help and further encourage the air transport sector to significantly reduce its CO2 emissions and become more sustainable.
As part of its ‘Fit for 55 package’, the Commission presented a proposal to revise the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) (14) to strengthen the carbon price signal, a proposal to revise the Energy Taxation Directive (15) that removes the mandatory exemption on jet fuels, as well as a new legislative proposal, the ‘ReFuelEU Aviation’ (16).
That initiative aims to decarbonise the aviation sector by mandating the uptake of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) while ensuring a well-functioning aviation market.
The Commission proposals to update the legislation on the Single European Sky and the rules on air traffic management (17) also hold great potential for modernisation and sustainability, helping to cut excess fuel burn and CO2 emissions caused by flight inefficiencies and airspace fragmentation.
These legislative proposals are currently being discussed by the co-legislators and are not yet applicable.
Once in place, they should effectively contribute to the decarbonisation of the air transport sector to such extent that the Measure at hand should no longer be needed.
(39)
Notwithstanding this, in order to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the air transport sector in the meantime, the Commission notes that France has chosen to temporarily limit the exercise of traffic rights for domestic scheduled public passenger air transport services for which there are several direct daily rail connections of less than two and a half hours with sufficient frequencies and suitable timings.
(40)
As regards whether other modes of transport provide appropriate levels of service, the Commission notes that Article 1 of the Final Draft Decree provides for a more detailed set of relevant and objective requirements that take into account the quality of the connection both for point to point and connecting passengers.
Moreover, the French competent authorities have committed to assess ex ante, before each scheduling season, whether or not the rail connection offers an appropriate level of service on a given route (as defined in Article 1 of the Final Draft Decree), and thereafter to properly inform potentially interested carriers of which routes can continue to be served.
It also means that a route that was banned could potentially be served again if the quality of the rail service changes and no longer fulfils the conditions of appropriate levels of service, thereby incentivising the provision of quality rail services offering appropriate levels of service.
The Commission considers that such a dynamic approach which takes into account the future development of rail services would promote multimodality in line with the objectives of the Mobility Strategy and benefit connectivity.
(41)
As regards the environmental benefit of the Measure, the French authorities state that ‘the already effective closure of the three routes of Orly-Bordeaux, Orly-Lyon and Orly-Nantes (18)leads to an overall reduction of 55 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from air transport’ (19).
(14) (15) (16) (17) (18)
COM(2021)552 final of 14.7.2021.
COM(2021) 563 final of 14.7.2021.
COM(2021)561 final of 14.7.2021.
COM(2020) 577 final and COM(2020) 579 final of 22.9.2020.
The Commission notes that Air France had already decided to stop its operations on these three routes in 2020, notably in the context of the loan and State guarantee on loans granted by France.
Banning those routes will therefore not lead to an actual reduction in emissions.
However, unquantifiable environmental benefits may nonetheless be generated since air carriers potentially interested in operating these routes will be prevented from doing so.
(19) DGAC estimates based on 2019 traffic.