EU RAIL ‘LIBERALISATION’ PLANS HITS THE BUFFERS

Over 200 Members of the European Parliament failed to turn up last month to rubber stamp the Third Railway Package which would have enforced competition within and between national EU rail networks. As a result, the proposals to ‘liberalise’ domestic railways from 2017 did not gain the required majority of 393 votes and will be put on ice indefinitely. The Jarzembowski report had demanded the 'liberalisation' of rail passenger transport in the form of 'open access' for international transport from 2010 and national rail passenger transport from 2017. The Third Railway Package was proposed by the European Commission in March 2004 and focused on international services and problems related to cross-border operation (so-called ‘interoperability’). The rules would also extend to suburban and regional railways. RMT general secretary Bob Crow wrote to British MEPs urging them to reject proposals for the privatisation of rail passenger services. "Rail workers and the travelling public have had considerable experience of the devastating failures of rail privatisation and these proposals will make matters even worse in the UK," he wrote. Report author and German MEP Georg Jarzembowski complained that MEPs from France and the Netherlands did not vote in favour of the liberalisation deadline, although "the proposal was based on a compromise between the conservatives and the socialists". He also ranted about the fact that "France and the Netherlands protect their state-owned operators and favour market shares over citizens' interests". French and Dutch citizens also voted against the EU Constitution which Brussels currently trying to impose anyway. PRIVATISATION Bob Crow pointed out that ‘open access’ competition would only introduce further fragmentation, fewer services or even more public money to keep the current level of rail services. "These proposals entrench the disastrous separation of rail infrastructure from rail operations and perpetuate the system where private train operators will seek to maximise profits from direct public subsidy or the indirect subsidies that states provide for rail infrastructure," he said. He also warned that rail passenger 'liberalisation' would force smaller and poorer member states simply to sell off national assets to virtual monopolies based in the larger states. "Before Brussels decides how member states should run their railways why not ask what rail workers and the travelling public think of these plans which only benefit corporate interests?" Bob Crow said. RMTnews :: february 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 8 DESERTED: Rail strikes in Belgium, France, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal were called late last year in protest against a proposal by the European Commission to open 25 per cent of the rail freight market to ‘competition’ over the next 10 years. EU RAIL ‘LIBERALISATION’ PLANS HITS THE BUFFERS European Union plans to develop a ‘market’ in the rail sector across bloc took a blow last month after the so-called ‘third rail package’ failed to get through the European parliament