EP Asks EC To Enforce Rail Liberalization In Several Member States, Including Romania

The European Commission (EC) should launch infringement procedures against member states which have not yet opened up their rail networks to competition, says a resolution adopted Thursday by the European Parliament (EP), which names Romania as one of the offenders.

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"The directives of the 'first rail package', which aimed to enable rail companies to compete through ensuring fair access to infrastructure capacity by making infrastructure managers independent, should have been transposed in national law by 2003," the EP said in a press release Thursday.

The MEPs criticized European Union member states for their slowness in implementing community legislation. The EU's legislature asked the Commission to take legal action against these states without delay.

"The directives were intended to revitalize the rail sector by creating an integrated European rail area, but the share of rail in the overall transport sector has not increased in the last ten years," the press release said.

According to the EP's press service, "the 22 states that have still not implemented EU rules and continue to 'prevent fair competition in the rail market' are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and Slovakia."

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