Written statement to Parliament

EU Transport Council: 2 December 2010

Agenda for the Transport Council's meeting on 2 December 2010 which includes aviation, road safety and rail issues.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP

I will be attending the second Transport Council of the Belgian Presidency which will take place in Brussels on 2 December (2010).

The commission and presidency will present a report on possible measures to improve aviation security. The UK welcomes this report and will press for early, effective and coordinated action by member states.

There will also be a debate on the draft directive on cross-border enforcement in the field of road safety. The presidency intends to reach a conclusion on progress towards a political agreement. We hope that the conclusion confirms the accepted view that political agreement can only be achieved once the UK and Ireland have completed Parliamentary scrutiny and made their opt-in decisions.

There will be a progress report and policy debate on the legislative proposal to recast the first rail package, establishing a single European railway area, which was presented to the council in October.

A progress report will be considered on work towards a council and European Parliament decision on access to the public regulated service of the Galileo satellite navigation system. I will press for greater clarity on the estimated infrastructure and operational costs as well as an indication from the commission on whether it proposes to charge member states for access to the public regulated service. This will help the government determine its position on use of this service. The government continues to oppose increasing the budget for completion of the Galileo system.

The council will be asked to adopt conclusions, on the integration of waterborne transport into the EU logistics chain. These conclusions follow the informal meeting of EU Transport Ministers held in Antwerp in September. We welcome these conclusions on this important sector.

The council will also be asked to adopt conclusions following the commission’s recent communication entitled ‘Towards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020’. As the conclusions set out that any new EU legislation must be proportionate and supported by robust impact assessments, I intend to support their adoption.

Published 2 December 2010