Thursday

28th Mar 2024

EU injects small dose of competition into its railways

  • MEPs failed to push through their demand to liberalise domestic services from 2017 (Photo: EUobserver)

European lawmakers gave their final blessing to a package of railway reforms, aimed at injecting more competition into Europe's rail networks as well as introducing an EU-wide set of passenger rights for minimum compensation when trains are delayed.

"This result shows the will of Europe to develop the use of railways and to advance towards the creation of a real European railway space", EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said on Tuesday (25 September) in response to MEPs' vote on the topic.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Under the newly-adopted legislation, international passenger rail networks within the 27-nation Union will have to welcome competitors from 2010, with centre-right German MEP Georg Jarzembowski saying "this will lead to more competition and more choice for the customers".

However, MEPs failed to push through their demand to liberalise domestic services from 2017, as several EU capitals – especially France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, all home to state-owned operators – were reluctant to set an exact date.

Instead, the European Commission will assess the market situation no later than two years after the directive enters into force and will subsequently suggests whether competition should be injected to domestic services as well.

Thorny issue of passenger rights

In addition, EU capitals have scored one more point regarding the controversial issue of EU-wide passenger rights, similar to air traveller rights which came into force in February 2006.

Under the new rules, all rail passengers will get 25 percent of their fare for a delay of 60 minutes or more and 50 percent for a delay of 120 minutes or more, but only if the operator can be held responsible for this delay.

Compensations will apply to international as well as to domestic travellers.

However, the directive will at the same time allow governments to have generous exemptions – altogether allowing for a possible 15-year-long transitional period for domestic rail networks.

"The fact that it was so difficult to persuade all member states to grant basic rights to rail passengers shows how poorly railway authorities treat their customers nowadays", Belgian liberal MEP Dirk Sterckx said in response to the parliament's concessions on passenger rights.

"That is a pity but we had to get the new member states on board", he added.

The travellers' rights will enter into force in 2009, with Mr Jarzembowski hoping "the odds are that trains will run on time much more often and railways will become a more popular means of transport".

EU's €23bn for high-speed rail had 'low added value'

Court of Auditors says in critical report that Europe does not have a high-speed rail 'network', "only a patchwork of national high-speed lines, planned and built by the member states in isolation".

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  2. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  3. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  4. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  5. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  6. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  7. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  8. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us