Thu. Jan 23rd, 2025

Main results of the EU Transport Council, 5 December 2024

Dec 6, 2024 , , ,

Brussels, 5 December 2024

The Council agreed its negotiating position (general approach) on a new directive on the EU-wide effect of certain driving disqualifications, as part of the ‘road safety’ package, a regulation on enforcement of passenger rights in the EU and a regulation on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys.

The Council also took note of a progress report on the Commission proposal to amend the combined transport directive, as part of the greening freight transport package, and held a policy debate on air passenger rights.

It was a fruitful meeting: we agreed the Council’s negotiating positions on key pieces of legislation for road safety and for the enforcement of passenger rights in Europe. We now pass the baton to the Polish presidency to make progress on these files in future talks with the Parliament.

Bálint Nagy, Hungarian minister of state of transport

Road safety

The Council adopted a general approach on driving disqualifications, as part of the so-called ‘road safety package’, enabling the presidency to enter interinstitutional negotiations with the European parliament on this file. The draft directive is a follow-up to the Valletta ministerial declaration of March 2017, which called for action to end the relative impunity of non-resident serious road traffic offenders. Once in force, the new legislation will improve road safety on European roads ensuring inter alia that drivers who have their driving licence withdrawn in one member state for serious breaches to road traffic rules will be taken off the roads within the EU.

Passenger rights

The Council adopted its general approach on two regulations on enforcement of passenger rights in the EU, and on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys, as part of the so-called ‘passenger mobility package’, enabling the presidency to enter interinstitutional talks with the European parliament on those files. Both proposals aim at addressing the shortcomings of the current framework in terms of implementation and enforcement of passenger rights, notably by improving access to information. Moreover, the second proposal aims at filling in the regulatory gaps in terms of respective obligations and liabilities of the different travel service providers involved in multimodal journeys where passengers use multiple different modes of transport to get from one place to another.

Furthermore, the Council held a policy debate on air passenger rights. Ministers concurred on the need to simplify the legal framework for air passenger rights to ensure the uniform protection of air passengers through unambiguous legislation with a focus on the most important issues. The new framework should strike the right balance between ensuring a high level of passengers’ protection and maintaining reasonable costs for airlines. There was also a large consensus on the need to improve the rights of passengers with reduced mobility. Moreover, ministers agreed on the need to improve passengers’ information and ensure a uniform application of their rights with clear definitions and deadlines. They also concurred that the revision should reduce administrative burden and improve the level playing field between airlines. Against this backdrop, ministers agreed to resume work on this file within the Council as soon as possible.

Intermodal transport

The Council took note of a progress report on the Commission proposal to amend the 1992 combined transport directive.

Any other business

Current legislative proposals

The presidency informed ministers of the state of play of the following legislative files on which informal negotiations with the European Parliament are ongoing:

  • the new directive on driving licences, as part of the ‘road safety’ package
  • the new regulation on the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), as part of the ‘maritime safety’ package
  • the new regulation on the use of railway infrastructure capacity in the single European     railway area, as part of the ‘greening freight transport’ legislative package

Other topics

Land

The Bulgarian, Czech, Italian, Polish, Romanian, and Slovak delegations informed the Council about their joint initiative for a renewed European automotive policy balancing competitiveness and climate ambition.

Shipping 

The Bulgarian, Croatian, Cyprus, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish delegations drew the Council’s attention to the possible negative impact of the extension of the EU emissions trading system (ETS) on maritime transport and on the competitiveness of EU ports.

Aviation

France, supported by all delegations, informed the Council on the Commission’s request for an opinion from the Court of Justice of the EU on the agreement on air transport with the sultanate of Oman. The Lithuanian delegation also informed the Council about incursions of unauthorised objects into EU member states from third countries.

Intermodal

The Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian delegations presented their joint non-paper on the upcoming Connecting Europe Facility III programme. The Spanish delegation raised the issue of EU transport infrastructure’s resilience to extreme climate-related and geophysical events. The Commission also informed the Council about the role of the social climate plans in preventing and addressing transport poverty.

Presidency’s work programme

The Polish delegation presented its priorities and work programme for the first half of 2025.

The Council also adopted without discussion the items on the list of non-legislative A items.

Preparatory documents
Outcome documents
Press releases

Source – EU Council

 

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