ДОКЛАД относно съвместен текст, одобрен от Помирителния комитет, на директива на Европейския парламент и Съвета за изменение на Директива на Съвета 91/440/ЕИО относно развитието на железниците в Общността и на Директива 2001/14/ЕО на Европейския парламент и Съвета за разпределяне капацитета на железопътната инфраструктура и събиране на такси за ползване на железопътната инфраструктура

11.9.2007 - (PE-CONS 3635/2007 – C6‑0212/2007 – 2004/0047(COD)) - ***III

Делегация на Европейския парламент в Помирителния комитет
Председател на делегацията: Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Докладчик: Georg Jarzembowski

ПРОЕКТ НА ЗАКОНОДАТЕЛНА РЕЗОЛЮЦИЯ НА ЕВРОПЕЙСКИЯ ПАРЛАМЕНТ

за съвместен текст, одобрен от Помирителния комитет, на директива на Европейския парламент и Съвета за изменение на Директива на Съвета 91/440/ЕИО относно развитието на железниците в Общността и на Директива 2001/14/ЕО на Европейския парламент и Съвета за разпределяне капацитета на железопътната инфраструктура и събиране на такси за ползване на железопътната инфраструктура

(PE-CONS 3635/2007 – C6‑0212/2007 – 2004/0047(COD))

(Процедура на съвместно вземане на решение: трето четене)

Европейският парламент,

–   като взе предвид съвместния текст, одобрен от Помирителния комитет (PE-CONS 3635/2007 – C6‑0212/2007),

–   като взе предвид своята позиция на първо четене[1] по предложението на Комисията към Европейския парламент и Съвета (COM(2004)0139)[2],

–   като взе предвид своята позиция на второ четене[3] по общата позиция на Съвета[4],

–   като взе предвид становището на Комисията по измененията в общата позиция, внесени от Парламента (COM(2007)0078)[5],

–   като взе предвид член 251, параграф 5 от Договора за ЕО,

–   като взе предвид член 65 от своя правилник,

–   като взе предвид доклада на своята делегация в Помирителния комитет (A6‑0314/2007),

1.  одобрява съвместния текст;

2.  възлага на своя председател да подпише акта заедно с председателя на Съвета, съгласно член 254, параграф 1 от Договора за ЕО;

3.  възлага на своя генерален секретар да подпише акта след проверка на надлежното изпълнение на всички процедури и да пристъпи към публикуването му заедно с генералния секретар на Съвета в ОВ на ЕО;

4.  възлага на своя председател да предаде законодателната резолюция на Съвета и на Комисията.

• [1]  ОВ C 227 E от 21.9.2006 г., стр. 460.
• [2]  Все още непубликувано в ОВ.
• [3]  Одобрени текстове от 18.1.2007 г., P6_TA(2007)0003.
• [4]  ОВ C 289 E от 28.11.2006 г., стр. 30.
• [5]  Все още непубликувано в ОВ.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

BACKGROUND

On 3 March 2004, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive of the Parliament and Council amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways. Its fundamental aim was to improve rail market access. The key features of the proposal were:

· By 1 January 2010, Member States national rail networks were to be opened-up for use by all railway undertakings providing international passenger services.

· Railway undertakings were to be permitted to pick up and set down passengers at any station on an international route, including at stations located in the same Member State.

· Restrictions might be imposed on the opening-up of networks if such opening-up would jeopardise the equilibrium of a passenger service laid down in a public service contract.

This proposal was one of four making up the so-called 'Third Railway Package'. The other proposals were for a Regulation on passengers' rights and obligations, a Directive on certification of train drivers, and a Regulation on rail freight services. The Parliament rejected the last of these at first reading on 25 October 2006.

The committee responsible, the Committee on Transport and Tourism, appointed Mr. Jarzembowski as rapporteur for the rail market access proposal. The Parliament held its first reading on 28 September 2005. Council adopted its common position on 18 September 2006.

The outcome of the Parliament's second reading vote on 18 January 2007 was rather close to the Council's common position, since the Committee's amendment to open-up the national networks also for the national passenger services gained the support of a clear majority but was short of the necessary qualified majority of 393 votes. Of the 18 amendments adopted by the Parliament, five concerned comitology provisions. The other main points of difference between the co-legislators concerned the levy to finance passenger services laid down in public service contracts, and the reporting obligations of the Commission.

CONCILIATION

The Council subsequently indicated informally that it would be unable to accept all of the Parliament's amendments and that consequently a conciliation procedure would be necessary.

The constituent meeting of Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee was held in Strasbourg on 14 February. Its members decided that the three railways dossiers should be treated as a package in conciliation, as they had been at the earlier stages of the legislative process. They asked the Chair, Mr. Vidal-Quadras, the Chair of the committee responsible, Mr. Costa, and the rapporteurs, Mr. Jarzembowski, Mr. Savary and Mr. Sterckx, to begin informal negotiations with the Council.

Three trialogues were held (on 13 March, 24 April and 15 May): after each of these, the negotiating team reported back to the EP delegation (on 14 March, 25 April and 23 May). As far as the rail market access dossier was concerned, progress towards agreement was made on those groups of amendments which concerned scope, framework agreements and comitology provisions. However, the two main points of difference - the levy and reporting obligations - remained unresolved.

The conciliation procedure was formally opened on 5 June 2007. At the meeting of the Conciliation Committee, the Council was represented by Mr. Tiefensee, German Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, and the Commission by Vice-President Barrot. Shortly before midnight, the Committee was adjourned, having been unable to reach an agreement.

A further trialogue was held on 19 June: once again, Mr. Tiefensee and Mr. Barrot represented the Council and Commission. The negotiators were able to reach provisional agreement on all outstanding issues on the rail market access dossier; and this was approved unanimously by the meeting of the Parliament delegation which took place later on the same day.

Coreper gave its agreement on 20 June and the conciliation procedure was subsequently concluded by an exchange of letters between the presidency-in-office of the Council and the chair of the EP delegation.

The key points of the agreement reached can be summarised as follows:

· Comitology:     Measures necessary to adapt the annexes of Directive 91/440/EEC and Directive 2001/14/EC will be adopted in accordance with the 'regulatory with scrutiny' procedure.

· Levy:   In line with the EP second reading position, provisions governing the levy on international rail passenger services to finance public rail passenger services include the stipulation that 'the total levies imposed ... shall not endanger the economic viability of the rail passenger service on which they are imposed'; and that the compensation paid shall not exceed the total cost incurred in discharging the relevant public service obligations.

· Reporting obligations:   The Parliament achieved its goal of ensuring that, when the Commission reports in 2012 on the implementation of the Directive, it will also be obliged to assess the development of the market including the state of preparation for a further opening-up of the rail market and, if appropriate, propose additional measures to bring about further liberalisation of rail market access.

CONCLUSION

The Third Railway Package, of which this Directive is part, is an important body of transport legislation. The agreement reached in the course of the conciliation procedure addresses the key issues raised by the Parliament's second-reading amendments to the Directive on rail market access. The delegation accordingly recommends that Parliament approve the joint text at third reading.

PROCEDURE

Title	Joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure
References	PE-CONS 3635/2007 – C6-0212/2007 – 2004/0047(COD)
Delegation chairman: Vice-President	Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Committee responsible Chairman:	TRAN Paolo Costa
Rapporteur(s)	Georg Jarzembowski
Commission proposal	COM(2004)0139
Date of Parliament’s first reading – P number	28.9.2005			P6_TA(2005)0354
Amended Commission proposal
Council common position   Date announced in plenary	5895/2/2006 – C6-0309/2006 28.9.2006
Commission position (Article 251(2), subpara 2, indent 3)
Date of Parliament’s second reading – P number	18.1.2007			P6-TA(2007)0003
Commission opinion (Article 251(2), subpara 3, point (c))	COM(2007)0078
Date Council received 2nd reading	2.3.2007
Date of Council letter on non-approval of Parliament amendments	25.5.2007
Conciliation Committee meetings	5.6.2007
Date of vote by Parliament delegation	19.6.2007
Result of vote	+: -: 0:	24 0 1
Members present	Gabriele Albertini, Inés Ayala Sender, Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Paolo Costa, Michael Cramer, Christine De Veyrac, Saïd El Khadraoui, Mathieu Grosch, Stanisław Jałowiecki, Georg Jarzembowski, Anne E. Jensen, Jörg Leichtfried, Bogusław Liberadzki, Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Willi Piecyk, Reinhard Rack, Gilles Savary, Brian Simpson, Dirk Sterckx, Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Substitute(s) present	Emanuel Jardim Fernandes, Rosa Miguélez Ramos, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Renate Sommer, Corien Wortmann-Kool
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present
Date of agreement in Conciliation Committee
Agreement by exchange of letters	20.6.2007		21.6.2007
Date on which the co-chairmen established that the joint text had been approved and forwarded it to Parliament and the Council	31.7.2007
Date tabled	11.9.2007
Comments (available in one language only)	…

EXTENSION OF DEADLINES

Deadline for second reading by Council
Deadline for convening the Committee   Requesting institution – date
Deadline for work in the Committee   Requesting institution – date	1.8.2007 PE 29.6.2007
Deadline for adopting the act         Requesting institution – date	27.9.2007 PE 29.6.2007