Reply to the 30th and 31st annual reports on the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 30 January 1986 (27th Sitting) (see Doc. 5469, 30th and 31st annual reports of the ECMT, Doc. 5512, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, and Doc. 5520, opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 30 January 1986 (27th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having regard to the 30th and 31st annual reports of ECMT
(5469. 5469), the report of its Committee on Economic Affairs and Development in reply thereto (
Doc. 5512), the opinion presented by its Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities (
Doc. 5520), and the work recently done on trunk communications in Europe by the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) ;
2. Noting that the transport sector is growing only slowly, whereas it should be making a dynamic contribution to economic growth and regional planning in Europe ;
3. Considering that recent disturbances in this sector make the recommendations contained in its
Resolution 815 (1984) even more relevant, particularly those relating to frontier traffic, road safety, environmental impact, urban transport and the necessary revival of the railways ;
4. Welcoming the fact that the European Community has proclaimed 1986 "European Road Safety Year" ;
5. Reaffirming that the right to travel, which is recognised for all European citizens, including the disabled, calls for a genuinely free choice of means of transport, which implies creating healthier conditions of competition, particularly through the harmonisation of welfare standards and an accurate assessment of the constraints on public transport in particular ;
6. Concerned at the lack of a genuine European transport policy, confirmed by the judgment given by the ourt of Justice of the European Communities in May 1985, and at the tendency of governments to withdraw from the financing of major transport infrastructure ;
7. Congratulating ECMT on its numerous activities in 1983 and 1984, and urging it to continue its "fundamental policy discussions" on the harmonisation of tolls, taxes and other dues, and the expansion of the multilateral quota system, discussions which the Assembly will follow very closely with a view to holding a specific debate on the subject if necessary ;
8. Regretting, however, that ECMT has been over-timid on projects of such importance for the construction of Europe as the creation of a European highspeed train network and the fixed cross-Channel link, as well as the question of rationalising research activities in the field of new transport technologies,
9. Considers that ECMT should be the forum of choice for discussions by the European Ministers of Transport with a view to framing transport policy on a Western-European scale, and urges the European Community to develop more efficient working relations with ECMT, while taking care not to bring its work to a standstill and bearing in mind the interests of those member countries of ECMT which do not belong to the Community ;
10. Calls upon ECMT to play its part in creating transport infrastructures of European interest, such as the European high-speed railway network, the fixed cross-Channel link, the link between Scandinavia and continental Europe, improvement of Alpine cross-routes and study of base tunnels, and the fixed link across the Strait of Messina ;
11. Calls upon the governments of the member states of the Council of Europe and of ECMT as well as the European Community to recognise their responsibility for financing major transport infrastructure, for example by allocating funds from their budgets, guaranteeing loans or creating a new financial instrument for the purpose at European level ;
12. Urges private, public, industrial and university research centres to co-ordinate their research activities better in the transport technology field and integrate them in the framework of the Eureka project ;
13. Instructs its appropriate committees to organise, in co-operation with ECMT, the European Community and CLRAE, a hearing on the European highspeed train network focusing on routes, technologies, finance and economic implications ;
14. Recommends that member states of the Council of Europe and of ECMT adopt the following measures :
A. Urban traffic :
a. improvement of the quality of life in urban areas by operating the necessary traffic cuts ;
b. improvement of infrastructures to minimise the effects of traffic on the quality of life ;
c. diversion of through traffic away from residential areas ;
d. introduction of special lanes for public transport and cyclists ;
B. Transport and environment :
e. participation by representatives of Environment Ministers in ECMT's committee responsible for reviewing the question of transport and environment ;
f. pursuit of current work to establish the social cost of the various transport sectors, taking into account the polluter pays principle ;
g. encouragement to transfer long-distance freight traffic from road to rail, among other things, by improving the efficiency of the railways, and international co-ordination of the piggy-back routes ;
h. full recognition of the economic and social functions of the railways and promotion of rail traffic ; furthermore, border control of trains should be considerably accelerated ;
i. obligation of railway administrations to make better and greater use of their existing rolling stock ;
j. closer co-operation between European railway companies ;
k. compulsory introduction of exhaust fume standards for all motor vehicles, similar to those in force in the United States ;
l. much stricter controls on the serious problem of overweighted and dangerously laden goods vehicles ;
m. guaranteed sale of lead-free petrol in all European countries as a contribution to decreasing environmental pollution ;
15. Requests ECMT to organise, at its next meeting, a colloquy with representatives from the Parliamentary Assembly in order to hold an exchange of views on problems of common interest.
