Relations between the ECMT and the Council of EuropeNote
1. The Assembly has examined the 11th Report of the ECMT of May 1965 which was transmitted to it in July. The Assembly is fully satisfied with the co-operation instituted between an intergovernmental organisation such as the ECMT with its Council of Ministers, Restricted Groups, Committees and Working Parties, on the one hand, and a European Parliamentary body of a political nature such as the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, on the other. In this connection, the Assembly wishes to thank the Conference and, in particular, its President, who personally presented the 11th Report and supplied explanations on the problems raised by Members of the Assembly.
General Transport PolicyNote
2. The Six have recently taken a decision with regard to the principles of their common transport policy. It will, however, be necessary for them to take further decisions in order to put these principles into practice. It would therefore be valuable if the work of the Restricted Group referred to in paragraph 3 (b) of the ECMT Report were to be further developed and intensified. - The Assembly supports such a further development and intensification and would be grateful if in the next Report the work done by this Restricted Group could be gone into in greater detail.
The Assembly notes that ECMT has succeeded in carrying out a series of sectorial studies capable of being gradually coordinated so as to make that policy a coherent whole, by giving priority treatment to the problem of the liberalisation of the international transport market. It endorses the views of the Ministers of Transport both as regards free access to the international transport market, the fixing of prices, and the equalisation of conditions for the offer of transport in the member States (see paragraph 13 of the report). These measures are necessary if transport is to profit from the advantages offered by a major international market.
3. With general reference to the formulation of ideas on the action to be taken in the field of transport, the Assembly, after supporting the holding in Strasbourg from 5th to 9th October 1964 of an international symposium on Theory and Practice in Transport Economics, is pleased to note that the Council of Ministers of Transport has not lost sight of the need to promote "an internationally acceptable theory of transport economics". The Assembly is very much in favour of the idea of pooling transport research by means of appropriate exchanges of views between all those concerned and, therefore, of establishing a European Transport Economics Institute as mentioned in paragraph 20 of the ECMT Report. Such exchanges of views could, to begin with, take the form of periodical symposia on limited themes prepared by a group of experts capable of forming such an Institute.
4. The establishment of a European Transport Economics Institute seems all the more necessary as ECMT itself finds (for instance in its study on investment in the various forms of transport, in its study on the demand for the carriage of goods and persons, and - perhaps the most important - its attempt at a comparative study of surface and air transport in co-operation with ECAC), that it is meeting with certain difficulties which a research institute would be particularly qualified to deal with, using methods regarded as valid by most of the interested parties.
5. The Assembly has examined with interest the various measures taken by the Member States to increase available capacity so as to meet the growing demand for transport without an abnormal increase in price. Generally speaking, it is safe to say that most States accept the principle that in assessing the competitivity of different forms of transport, regard should be had to all the costs properly attributable to the form of transport in question. How to determine what costs are ''properly attributable" in a given case was, however, a question which gave rise to lengthy discussions at the above-mentioned Strasbourg symposium.
RailwaysNote
6. The Assembly is fully aware of the difficulties of instituting adequate accounts for rail transport, one reason being that in all railway systems commercial and public utility aspects are closely interwoven. Indeed, in less than fifty years, railway administration has ceased to be a matter of private enterprise and has taken on first a national and later a European character. This calls for extensive changes in the method of presenting railway accounts. Whatever the techniques employed by the different networks, the accounts show a deficit (in some cases a very heavy one) which must not be allowed to become chronic. In particular, a study should be made of passenger fare reductions granted for various reasons, so as to have a better idea of the part played by this factor in bringing about deficits.
7. The distinction drawn by the Council of Ministers of Transport between the internal and the external factors affecting the deficit (paragraph 35) must be accepted and examined further, since its purpose is to bring out the measures which are the responsibility of the States and the ECMT (general transport policy and co-ordinating of railway-road transport), and the technical and economic action which must be taken by the railway authorities themselves. As the object of "normalising" the accounts is to bring them more into line with the actual administration of the railways, and to make them reflect the true situation, the Assembly regrets that to date only eight member States (the Six, Sweden and Switzerland) have embarked upon such "normalisation", the more so since such action is an indispensable preliminary to arriving at any rational policy decision.
and
8.The Assembly notes with satisfaction the progress made in the standardisation of rolling-stock. It further notes that the ratio of "standard" or "unified" rolling-stock (unification being a standardisation limited to spare parts) doubled between the end of 1960 and the end of 1963 (from 9.5 % to 18.9 % of the total rolling-stock of the countries having the same track-gauge). It notes that this progress has been helped in part by the loans raised by the Eurofima Company which has financed the purchase of 1,200 wagons and 100 diesel locomotives. The Assembly hopes that new loans will be raised in those European financial capitals which have riot yet participated in Eurofima operations.
RoadsNote
9. The Council, of Europe has always taken a close interest in this subject and exercised its influence to encourage the prevention of road accidents and ensure the punishment of offenders. The Assembly therefore unreservedly endorses the twofold aim which the Road Safety Study Group has set itself, namely an easier flow of traffic and safer driving. The Assembly hopes that the first tangible stage in the achievement of these aims will be the widespread introduction in the near future of common road signs in all the European countries.
10. The Assembly regrets that the ECMT deems it impossible to draw up a European Highway Code and considers it preferable to aim at making national road traffic rules more uniform rather than to establish a single law whose effect would be more certain and would be felt more quickly. Whilst recognising the practical scope of the measures which each member country will be required to incorporate progressively in its own highway code with a view to securing greater uniformity, the Assembly regards this method as inadequate and unsuitable in the light of the development of international motor traffic, and considers that the establishment of a uniform Code within a reasonable period of time must remain one of Europe's aims. The difficulties arising from the Penal Codes in the various countries do not seem, to be insurmountable, since the European Committee on Crime Problems (ECCP) of the Council of Europe has undertaken the harmonisation of the penalties for road traffic offences.
It would seem that the decision of the Council of Ministers of Transport of 2nd December 1964 was taken in ignorance of the work on which the Council of Europe is at present engaged, precisely with a view to meeting the wishes of ECMT. This work will serve a purpose only if the "establishment of a single European Code to replace national highway codes" is maintained as an aim to be achieved in the near future. It would seem essential, therefore, that there should be proper liaison between the ECMT Working Party and the ECCP Sub-Committee.
11. As regards the programme adopted by the Council of Ministers of Transport, concerning the education and information of road users, both at national and at international level, the Assembly recalls the proposal it made in Resolution 288 (1964) to the ECMT, suggesting a second Joint Meeting of ECMT and Council of Europe experts to give practical effect to the principles agreed to at the first Joint Meeting held in Paris from 1st to 4th October 1963.
Other Means of TransportNote
12. The Assembly is particularly sensible of the fact that ECMT has agreed to a request made in Resolutions 166 (1959) and 244 (1963) that an economic study should be made of transport by inland waterways - a request which was based on the difficulties being encountered by inland waterway carriers and on the unfavourable prospects existing in this sector. The Assembly has noted with satisfaction the preparation of a general study of inland waterway economics outlining the various functions performed by such waterways, the multi-purpose role they should play (hydraulic energy, irrigation, supply of water,etc.) and, in particular, the encouraging prospects which large water-ways, which have been duly improved, will continue to offer for this form of transport.
13. In the opinion of the Assembly, oil and gas pipeline transport, which is flourishing at the present time, should be made the subject of an economic study within the more general context of how energy can most economically be furnished to the consumer in the form in which he requires it at the point at which he requires it. The Assembly considers that such a study, carried out in co-operation with the various interests concerned with the transport of energy, would encourage all member States to adopt the appropriate legislation and regulations required in the context of the setting up of a European network of oil and gas pipelines.
14. The Assembly welcomes the fact that ECMT is tackling the problem of traffic in towns and, in particular, that of the improvement of public transport. In addition, any progress towards the reduction of noise in towns would be greatly, welcomed by Members of the Assembly.
Another problem to which the attention of the ECMT should be drawn is the increase in the poisoning of the air which is essentially due first, to the emission of carbon monoxide by petrol and diesel engines, and, secondly, to the emission of carbon dioxide and unpleasant smoke. The Assembly therefore hopes that the ECMT will study practical means to remedy the situation by means of tax measures in regard to the two types of fuel and technical measures in regard to engine design.
The Assembly would also draw attention to the suggestion it made in its Resolution 288 (5) on improving transport facilities between airports and town centres.
Information on Transport Trends in EuropeNote
15. The Assembly has examined with keen interest the section of the 11th Report of ECMT dealing with recent developments in inland transport.
As regards navigation on the canalised section of the Moselle (paragraph 115), the present statistics for half a year (June-December 1964) do not yet give a clear idea of the situation. The Assembly therefore suggests that the next annual report should give precise figures for traffic forecasts and the actual traffic. An analysis of the differences between the two would be very useful for the framing of an investment policy for the European system of navigable waterways.
16. The report rightly emphasises the inadequacy of the links between national motorway networks (paragraph 155). The Assembly considers that it would be desirable to set up a restricted Belgiurn-France-Netherlands group for a link-up between the three existing or planned networks, thereby completing the Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris motorway. The Assembly also wishes to stress the importance - and low cost - of motorway inter-connections between major frontier towns, for example between Maastricht and Aix-la-Chapelle, which are badly needed. Action, which is so urgently needed and so relatively easy to undertake, might be expected to commend itself of its own accord to ECMT.
17. In conclusion, the Assembly, which follows the activities of ECMT with the greatest interest, suggests that in the next report (if the cost of printing is not too high) the statistical data on traffic trends should be accompanied by graphs relating to the last few years. Again, the work accomplished at the instance of - or simply in member countries of - ECMT during the past eleven years could usefully be illustrated by a map, on the lines of that appended to the 10th report, to show what an organisation for European co-operation is capable of achieving in the space of a decade with modest means, given a strong spirit of collaboration among its Members.