Parliament warns for abuse of environmental legislation

The European Parliament voted today on an own-initiative report regarding the EC Green Paper on the review of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). The report, which was prepared by Eva Lichtenberger (Greens) supports the so-called option 3 of the Green Paper which proposes a dual layer structure of a core network and a comprehensive network.
MEPs also adopted an amendment proposed by the Rapporteur which urges the Commission to minimise unclear or contradictory provisions relating to declarations of common interest and the application of EU environmental legislation. In particular, Parliament requests that, once TEN-T status is granted to projects, Member States should not abuse this legislation in order to block their implementation.
We are very pleased with the outcome of the vote, said ESPO Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven, We share Parliament's choice for option 3 and very much welcome the strong message regarding the status of TEN-T projects in terms of environmental legislation.
ESPO is currently finalising its own position on the TEN-T Green Paper. This will be presented at the forthcoming ESPO conference, which is to be held on 14-15 May in Marseilles.

Source: Transportweekly