FIEC Newsletter – 16 Οκτωβρίου 2018

Following a number of amendments tabled by MEPs in response to the proposal to amend the Clean Vehicles Directive, last week the Environment Committee of the European Parliament (ENVI) rejected all amendments that would have included construction machinery in the scope of the directive. These included one that allowed for an eventual review of the scope, which may have raised the question again in future.

The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) has released a new briefing on the next CEF. It contains interesting key figures. It recalls that in 2011, the European Commission already highlighted likely investment needs amounting to 970 billion EUR, for trans-European networks.  It states that CEF has already proved its capacity to contribute effectively to EU transport policy objectives. Completing the TEN-T core network by 2030 would generate 7.5 million jobs and an additional GDP increase of 1.6% by 2030.

All of these elements demonstrate the urgent need to invest in transport infrastructure, whereas the proposed budget for the next CEF shows a decrease of 8% in the general envelope, counterbalanced by a new envelope dedicated to military mobility.

On 11th October the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, reached an agreement on the second amendment of the “Carcinogens” Directive. With this agreement a list of a further eight cancer-causing chemicals, including diesel exhaust, will now fall within the scope of this Directive.As regards “diesel exhausts” it was agreed to set a limit value for “diesel exhausts” at 0,05 mg/m³ (measured in terms of elemental carbon). Member States will have 2 years for transposing the modified Directive into their national framework and there will be 2 additional years of derogation, for all the sectors, in order to comply with the limit value. In addition, the underground mining and tunnel construction sectors will have 5 additional years (7 in total) of derogation for complying with this limit value.

Despite this transition period, the decision to include diesel exhausts within the scope of the Directive will have an impact on the construction industry, as alternatives (for ex. electric machines) do not exist for certain types of activities and as installation of filters or other devices can be extremely expensive and often do not provide adequate protection.

FIEC is currently collecting information and data, in order to quantify the potential impact in the various Member States.

The agreement will now be submitted to the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) for

approval. Once the Member States’ Permanent Representatives confirm the agreement, it will be
subject to a vote by the plenary of the European Parliament.