CLECAT-ESC joint press release

PRESS RELEASE
24 April 2009
ESC and CLECAT on the European rail freight network Plenary vote:
the European Parliament looks askew at its “greening of cargo” wish-list
Today in Brussels, the European Shippers’ Council and the European association for freight
forwarders CLECAT expressed their surprise on the vote on the Commission’s “proposal for a
directive concerning a European rail network for competitive freight” at the European Parliament’s
plenary session which took place this week.
Both CLECAT and ESC regret that the European Parliament has been reluctant to make further
steps that would support the transport of freight on rail. The European Parliament has for
example chosen not to take account of the necessity to give clear priority to freight on certain
selected routes by disposing of the term “priority” in the proposal. This would undermine the
proposal’s objective to develop an efficient and integrated freight transport network.
In reaction to the plenary vote, Marco Sorgetti, Director General of CLECAT, said “concerning the
decisions and measures taken by the governance bodies responsible for the freight corridors, the
adopted amendment improves the original text by involving infrastructure managers and groups
of railway undertakings using the corridor. However, CLECAT cannot be entirely satisfied with the
position taken by MEPs as we believe that customers should also be directly involved in the
governance bodies of the corridors”.
Nicolette van der Jagt, Secretary General of the ESC regretted that the European Parliament has
ignored some basic principles that would have enhanced the level of rail freight services: “MEPs
seem to be unaware of the need for freight to be transported and delivered at times which may be
considered peak periods for passenger services also. The Commission’s proposed text on that
matter was better in the sense it would ensure a fair and equal balance between the needs of
passenger services and freight on the strategic rail freight corridors”.
CLECAT and ESC were however pleased that the European Parliament took the view to
strengthen the role of Regulatory Bodies in case of conflict between applicant and Governance
Bodies as this should increase competition and transparency. However, they would like to stress
that these Regulatory Bodies must act in the full interests of competition on the rail and not be
swayed by national politics, ideology or incumbents’ interests.
Finally, whereas CLECAT and ESC welcome the decision of the European Parliament to involve
applicants and customers in the establishment of corridor performance indicators, this is only
seen as a first step in the good direction; the conditions of applicants defined in article 16 of
Directive 2001/14/EC provide Member States with the freedom to ignore this concept if they so
wish.
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For more information contact:
Nicolette van der Jagt
Secretary General
European Shippers' Council
tel + 32 2 230 2113
nicolettevdjagt@europeanshippers.be
www.europeanshippers.com
or
Mr Marco Sorgetti
Director General
CLECAT 1
sorgetti@clecat.org
http://www.clecat.org
1 International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations / Comité de Liaison Européen des Commissionnaires et
Auxiliaires de Transport
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