Swift deal vital to avert risk of ban on lorries crossing Austria

Date: 27/07/00

By Renee Cordes

THE European Commission is warning member states that lorries may soon lose access to vital Alpine routes if they fail to agree quickly on an overall reduction in the journeys trucks are allowed to make through Austria or come up with a new plan.

EU governments have until 21 September to decide whether to approve a proposal drawn up by Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio calling on Vienna to spread out a planned 20% cut in emissions from non-Austrian lorries over three years instead of forcing through the entire reduction in one go.

The plan, unveiled in May, aims to address concerns raised by some member states which are using up their permits (known as ecopoints) that their drivers could soon be forced off Austria's roads. Critics say there are few alternative routes in the wake of last year's Mont Blanc tunnel disaster.

To tide countries over the summer, when roads are more congested than usual with holiday-makers, the Commission agreed this week to allocate half of the third tranche of ecopoints assigned to member states.

But De Palacio is growing increasingly impatient with governments' failure to agree a permanent solution. She wrote to French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot earlier this month urging member states to reach agreement on the issue well before the September deadline, but they have yet to respond.

De Palacio's officials stress that the decision to allocate some permits this week is not a long-term solution to the problem, adding that it could raise questions about how these points are distributed and potentially prejudice any decision by EU governments on the issue.

Vienna launched the scheme to limit the number of trucks travelling through its territory to combat congestion and limit environmental damage from traffic long before it became an EU member, and insisted on retaining the system when it joined.

Under the system, lorries 'pay' one point for each unit of polluting gas emitted, with greener vehicles using up fewer points. There is also a limit on the number of points each country can accumulate. The long-term goal was to reduce the total amount of nitrogen oxide emissions from traffic by 60% between 1991 and 2003, when the system is due to expire.

Because the accord was part of Austria's accession treaty, it would be impossible for the Commission to force Vienna to abandon the system, as some member states have requested.