Trans-European transport network: seaports, inland ports, intermodal terminals and project No 8
1997/0358(COD)
The Commission notes that the European Parliament, in its amendments, has not accepted a number of the changes that were proposed by the Council, and accepted by the Commission.
However, the Commission believes that the positions of the Parliament and the Council are close and that, while the form and quantitative thresholds in the Parliament's amendments might differ from those in the Council's common position, the overall content still complies with the spirit of the proposal. The Commission feels that a compromise is possible which incorporates the main wishes of all institutions. With this in mind, the Commission finds most of the amendments proposed by the Parliament wholly, or in part, acceptable.
The amendments adopted in their entirety concern:
- amending the title of the proposal, to re-introduce intermodal terminals;
- reintroducing the references to intermodal terminals in the preamble, and specifying that all interconnection points are subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment;
- removing the reference to the different categories of ports in the preamble;
- strengthening the criteria for Inland Ports;
- amending the provisions on Combined Transport;
- reintroducing maps for intermodal terminals;
- introducing minor changes to text on criteria for Projects of Common Interest in Combined Transport;
- correcting the name of a port.
The following amendments are partly acceptable:
- reintroducing the seaports characteristics proposed by Commission, but with tougher criteria;
- strengthening the criteria for Inland Ports;
- rejecting the categories of ports and projects.
The following amendments are acceptable in principle, but need to be redrafted:
- deleting the table of eligible Projects of Common interest in seaports;
- introducing slightly more generous criteria for ports in islands and the outmost regions.
On the other hand, the Commission cannot accept the amendment which seeks to introduce a new paragraph defining 'superstructure' projects that are not eligible for Community finance.
The Commission therefore modifies the proposal to take account of the above-mentioned amendments. �