European Federation
for Transport and Environment
Secretariat Bd De Waterloo 34, 1000 Brussels Tel +
32 / 2 / 502 9909 Fax : + 32 / 2 / 502 9908
e-mail: info@t-e.nu homepage: www.t-e.nu
European
Commission
Rue de la Loi
200
B-1049
Brussels
Belgium
26 March
2002
Commission to stand up for the Treaty and sustainability
Dear Commissioners
We are writing this open letter to you to express our concerns over the
query EU Internal Market Commissioner has made to France concerning the opening
of the Mont Blanc tunnel to heavy goods vehicles. He has given France five days
to justify its decision to prevent heavy goods vehicles above 19 tons using the
Mont Blanc tunnel.
The European Federation for Transport and Environment T&E,
representing 41 organisations from 21 European countries, expects the
Commission to ensure that all the relevant provisions of the Treaty are
considered – and not just a sub set of those relating to the single market –
when reviewing the response of the French authorities.
We would like to remind the Commission that safety arguments, justifying
the restricted opening of the tunnel as foreseen by France, are fully in line
with the internal market provisions of Treaty (in particular Article 30).
Moreover the objectives of the Community defined in the Treaty and the
Commission’s own White Paper on the Common Transport Policy also support
continued restrictions on the tunnel:
- Article 2
of the Treaty sets the objectives of the Community including “to promote
throughout the Community a harmonious, balanced and sustainable
development,” …and also “ a high level of protection and improvement of
the quality of the environment, the raising of the standard of living and
quality of life”.
- The white
paper on Common Transport Policy identifies road safety as the area of
greatest concern for safety. The white paper set an ambitious target to
reduce the number of people killed on the roads till 2010 by 50 %.
Fulfilling article 2 of the treaty and achieving the road safety target
of the white paper requires the Community to establish safety as a major
priority and will need many measures set both at a Community level and by
individual Member States.
Furthermore, the restricted opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel as foreseen
by France doesn’t harm the internal market as alternatives for this trade from
and to Italy already exist:
1.
Currently,
only about 35 % of transalpine freight transport is done by rail. A cautious
calculation of existing rail capacities through the Alps shows that the rail
share could be doubled easily to more than 70 % without major investments and
without the planned rail links through the Alps (Lyon – Torino, Brenner,
Gotthard/Lötschberg).
2.
The port of Rotterdam
is one of the most important ports for Italy, although Italy has a number of
their own and well-developed ports which could be used to avoid freight being
transported from the Netherlands through the Alps to Italy.
There is obviously the possibility to make better use of existing
transport infrastructure to the benefit of the citizens, the environment and
the internal market. Better use of existing infrastructure would also allow the
Commission to achieve the other target set in the white paper on Common
Transport Policy, i.e. to keep modal split at 1998 levels in 2010; this is an
ambitious target in view of the strong loss of rail freights market share in
the past.
In order to fulfil the objectives of the Treaty and to contribute to a
sustainable development comprising all three pillars, i.e. economic, social and
environmental pillars, T&E asks the Commission to ensure a balanced
consideration of all the relevant Community policies and legislation when
reviewing the Mont Blanc traffic restrictions.
Furthermore the Commission should continue to advance road safety in
tunnels and its modal shift policy by:
1.
presenting
urgently their own proposals on tunnel safety.
2.
pushing the
concerned countries and railways to improve their rail services and make better
use of existing rail infrastructures.
3.
accelerating
the implementation of an interoperable rail system in Europe, which is at the
moment the biggest bottleneck in the TEN.
4.
accelerating
rail liberalisation and the implementation of the internal market in the rail
sector.
5.
proposing as
soon as possible a coherent approach for freight transport for the whole Alpine
area and for other sensitive areas considering the needs of the citizens and
the economy.
Kind regards
Beatrice Schell
T&E Director