June 2005
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
Further to last month’s report, I am pleased to report that the amendment tabled by Mr. Vatanen was easily adopted by the Transport Committee in June. To recap, the amendment reads:
" [The European Parliament] Is keen to preserve the cultural heritage represented by historic vehicles; therefore urges that planned legislation should take into consideration any unintentional but potentially negative effects on the use - and thus also the preservation - of historic vehicles;"
The amendment will now have to be adopted by the whole Parliament in September, but the endorsement by the Transport Committee means that its adoption in September should be a formality. If it is adopted, it will prove a useful tool in the future when arguing the case for exemptions from specific legislation for historic vehicles.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE
Driving licence Directive – call for lobby action
The 27 June Transport Council failed to reach agreement on the Luxemburg Presidency compromise text on the proposal to recast the existing Drivers’ licence Directive. Earlier in the month both the EP and Commission has accepted the provisions of the compromise and agreement was anticipated at the Council. However, on the day, Germany opposed the text. Germany's main concern has consistently been the renewal of licences which it does not want. Prior to the Council, Germany had agreed to support the Luxemburg compromise of a 20-year renewal, but at the last minute it changed its mind. It seems that Chancellor Schroeder did not want to go into his expected election in September (which will take place following the vote of “no confidence” on 1 July) with another EU loss hanging over him. So Germany said no - then France, Poland, Denmark and Austria decided to take the same position and therefore formed a blocking minority thereby preventing the adoption of the text.
It is thought that the UK might table the same Luxemburg compromise unchanged during its Presidency (which started on I July) after the expected German election - which means the agreement could be reached in October. However, if this blocking minority decides that it will maintain its position, the proposal will have to go to a European Parliament Second Reading and then conciliation which will take many more months.
PAH in tyres
Also in June, the European Parliament and Council agreed the proposal to restrict PAH in tyres (see previous updates) . The EP text was pre-agreed in a meeting with the Luxemburg Presidency so that this proposal might be formally adopted at First Reading - the preferred approach of the institutions where there is seen to be little contention between the institutions.
To recap, concerns had been raised that some manufacturers would not be able to meet the conditions of the Directive for certain tyres – such as tyres for historic vehicles - by the implementation date – now agreed at January 2010. Accordingly, as a result of our concerns being highlighted, the adopted Directive makes clear that tyres made before the implementation date may still be sold after the implementation date. This means that manufacturers which believe that they cannot meet the implementation date can still sell their stockpiles until they can.
.INFORMATION
Cafe programme
The European Commission's Air Quality package of environmental measures under the CAFÉ programme are not going to be published before the summer as anticipated. It seems that Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the postponement following lobbing by the industry trade association, Unice (l’Union des Industries de la Communauté européenne), which has published a assessment of the strategy warning that it would cost too much for too little and too uncertain gains.
The programme is expected to merge the four existing laws and air quality limit values contained in the laws will not change but also it might introduce controls on fine particulate matter (PM2.5). However, the proposal will probably advocate a two-phase strategy - first by requiring better monitoring of PM2.5 and then by setting air quality limits. The most controversial part of the Cafe package will be the level that the Commission chooses to propose for reducing levels of five key air pollutants - sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, ammonia and PM2.5 - by 2020.
The reduction objectives will not be formulated as binding targets, but the degree of ambition will be important since it will determine the range of targets set in future binding legislation - such as a revision of the national emission ceilings (NEC) directive which is due to culminate in draft proposals next year.
Italian car industry reaches deal on scrapping
Four national bodies representing Italian car makers, retailers and dismantlers have reached an agreement to share the burden of implementing the EU's 2000 end-of-life vehicles (ELV) directive. The deal intends to turn the management of the 1.5 million ELVs scrapped in Italy each year into an "environmentally and economically sustainable activity", according to the dismantlers association Fise Unire. Under the agreement the number of cars dismantled at each recycling plant, plus associated costs, will be strictly monitored.
German state ordered to cut particle pollution
A environmentalist campaign to ensure Germany complies with EU fine particle (PM10) pollution standards has been reinvigorated following a court ruling that the state of must do more to combat PM10 pollution.
The campaign, led by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), has involved taking German cities to court to compel them to meet the standards. It suffered a setback in April when courts in Munich and Berlin threw out injunctions that would have forced new measures to cut pollution.
In this case, an administrative court in Stuttgart said that Baden-Wurberg had not done enough to meet the EU limits. Backed by DUH, the plaintiffs presented evidence showing that Stuttgart and three other cities in the state were already in breach of a 1999 EU air quality directive.
German experts' sustainable transport vision
The German government's panel of environmental experts (SRU) has called for an integrated environmental protection strategy for road transport. Among its recommendations is a Europe-wide carbon dioxide (CO2) trading scheme aimed at bringing average new car emissions down to 100 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2012.
The SRU has said that tackling the environment and health impacts of road transport cannot be achieved only through individual measures. It presents a "total concept" for future policies, aimed at achieving sustainable mobility for all. SRU calls the current EU-industry voluntary agreement on CO2 emissions "ineffectual". The agreement made by the European, Japanese and Korean carmakers, is to cut average new car CO2 emissions to 140 g/km by 2008/9. However, the industry looks unlikely to meet the target. As a result, some EU countries have started lobbying for legislation to force carmakers to meet the bloc's separate target of 120 g/km by 2010/12. SRU, however, has gone further, calling for a target of 100 g/km by 2012, to be achieved through tradable permits for fleet average emissions, linked to the EU's existing industrial CO2 emission trading scheme.
The report also calls for German vehicle taxation to be linked more closely to CO2 emissions. Also to restrain growing demand for driving it also calls for further rises in the national ecotax on petrol. It has also criticised the government's plan to allow tax breaks for new diesel cars equipped with filters, arguing that the vehicles will soon have to adhere to the tough Euro-5 emissions standard anyway.
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The FIVA Legislation Commission members are: Geoff Smith, (Chairman); Winfried Kallinger; Svend Aage Tholstrup; Adalberto Gueli; David Davis, Tiddo Bresters, Horst Bruning, Patrick Rollet, and CarlaFiocchi (Secretariat)