Compromise agreement on guidelines for trans-European transport networks
At a meeting held alongside the Transport Council on 17 June 1996 in Luxembourg, the Conciliation Committee on the guidelines for the trans-European transport networks, composed of the EU Transport Ministers and 15 MEPs, finally reached agreement on a compromise just two days before the deadline of 19 June 1996. The agreement, to be confirmed by the Council and the Parliament within six weeks, comes in the final stages of a long process of negotiation between the Parliament, Council and Commission. The main points in dispute were environmental protection and Parliament's ability to select priority projects for funding. The agreement reached inserts an article into the Decision requiring Member States to take account of environmental protection through environmental impact assessments, and requiring the Commission to develop methods of carrying out corridor analyses. As regards the priority projects, the 14 projects selected at the Essen Summit will be included indicatively in Annex III to the Decision. The agreement comes just a couple of months after the guidelines for trans-European energy networks were agreed in Conciliation Committee. Finally, the guidelines for telecommunications networks should receive their second reading in the Parliament in July. They are also likely to be settled in the Conciliation Committee.