Transport files make good progress after strong support from Ministers in the Council - Main contents

The December Transport Council was for transport the political highlight of the rotating Presidency, and represents a good opportunity to give visibility to a series of important legislative and non-legislative initiatives. During the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, important progress has been made on several topics - aviation, ship safety, investments and road charging.

On aviation, the Council agreed on a General Approach on revised aviation safety rules. The regulation contains the first ever EU-wide rules for civil drones to fly safely in European airspace.

The Council has also given the green light to start negotiations on an EU aviation agreement with Armenia, a country that the EU is creating closer ties with under its neighbourhood policy.

Within the Passenger ship safety package, we agreed on a General Approach on the Directive on safety rules for passenger ships and on the Directive concerning inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro ferries. We have also presented a progress report on the Directive concerning registration of passengers.

During lunch we discussed investments. Together with the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Pim van Ballekom, we presented a new “Cleaner Transport Facility” (CTF), aimed at financing the decarbonisation of the transport sector in Europe. The CTF initiative will target the deployment of alternative fuels and further encourage the shift to lower emission transport modes, ensuring that global warming is kept well below 2°C.

First step towards an EU-wide road charging system

After long but fruitful discussions in the Council, I met with the German Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt regarding the German road charging scheme. The meeting was successful as we have finally found a solution to ensure that German roads remain accessible to all EU citizens. We have agreed for German Federal Government to table amendments to the laws concerned, thus removing any discrimination based on nationality, and incentivising the use of environmentally friendly cars. This agreement is also an important first step towards our plans to create an EU-wide road charging system that will benefit the EU's Single Market. I once again highlighted that road charging is the best way to reflect the user-pays and polluter-pays principles. Therefore once adopted, this scheme will also contribute to the Commission's political priority of low-emission mobility, by incentivising the shift to sustainable mobility.

Z močno podporo ministrov Sveta dosežen viden napredek v prometu

Decembrski Svet za transport predstavlja za promet politični vrhunec rotirajočega predsedstva in je odlična priložnost za večjo prepoznavnost številnih pomembnih zakonodajnih in nezakonodajnih pobud. Med predsedovanjem Slovaške Svetu EU smo dosegli viden napredek na področjih letalstva, varnosti ladijskega prometa, investicij in cestninjenja.

V letalstvu je Svet sprejel splošni pristop glede revidiranih varnostnih pravil v letalskem prometu. Uredba vsebuje prva pravila, ki veljajo za celotno EU, o civilnih brezpilotnih letalih za varno letenje v evropskem zračnem prostoru. Svet je prav tako dal zeleno luč za začetek pogajanj o letalskem sporazumu EU z Armenijo - državo, s katero EU tke tesnejše vezi v okviru svoje sosedske politike.

V okviru paketa o varnosti potniških ladij, smo se strinjali o splošnem pristopu glede direktive o varnostnih pravilih za potniške ladje ter o direktivi o pregledih za varno izvajanje linijskih prevozov z ro-ro trajekti. Predstavili smo tudi poročilo o napredku glede direktive o registraciji potnikov.

Med kosilom smo razpravljali o investicijah. Skupaj s podpredsednikom Evropske Investicijske Banke (EIB) Pimom van Ballekomom sva predstavila nov finančni mehanizem “Cleaner Transport Facility” (CTF), ki je namenjen financiranju dekarbonizacije prometnega sektorja v Evropi. Pobuda CTF bo usmerjena v uporabo alternativnih goriv in bo dodatno spodbudila prehod na promet z nizkimi emisijami, kar bo zagotavljalo omejitev globalnega segrevanja na manj kot 2 °C.

Prvi korak k vseevropskemu sistemu cestninjenja

Po dolgih, a plodnih razpravah v Svetu, sem se srečala z nemškim zveznim ministrom za promet in digitalno infrastrukturo Alexandrom Dobrindtom glede nemške sheme cestninjenja. Sestanek je bil uspešen, saj sva z ministrom našla rešitev, s katero bodo nemške ceste še naprej lahko dostopne vsem državljanom Evropske unije. Dogovorila sva se, da bo nemška zvezna vlada sprejela potrebne zakonodajne spremembe, ki bodo odpravile vsakršno diskriminacijo na podlagi državljanstva in spodbudile uporabo okolju prijaznih avtomobilov. To je tudi pomemben prvi korak na poti k našim načrtom za vzpostavitev vseevropskega sistema cestninjenja, ki bo koristil enotnemu trgu Evropske unije. Ponovno sem poudarila, da je zaračunavanje cestnine najboljši način za vključitev načel 'uporabnik plača' in 'onesnaževalec plača'. Zato bo ta shema, ko bo sprejeta, prispevala tudi k politični prednostni nalogi Komisije mobilnost z nizkimi emisijami, in sicer s spodbuditvijo prehoda na trajnostno mobilnost.