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passenger transport by rail, road and inland waterway
November 13, 2001 12:00 AM
By Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
By Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
Mr President, to get legal clarity on tendering rules in the EU, unfortunately the committee voted to delete most of the specific exemptions in favour of one very wide one, Amendment No 61. But it is open to legal and political challenge to simply cite democratic decision-making as a justification for exemption from EU legal rules for the internal market. I therefore commend the specific amendments from the ELDR Group - Amendments Nos 110 to 112. These would mean that authorities would be justified in not tendering metro and tram services if there were good reasons of cost, safety or risk of creating a permanent private monopoly rather than competition. Any claim for exemption would have to be justified to the European Commission.
In addition, there are provisions for direct award of contracts in the absence of tenders or in emergencies. I appeal in particular to the left of this House. You take a big risk if you rely only on Amendments Nos 61 and 62. They may not survive the course and as an insurance policy we need specific provisions to protect large complex metro systems like London's from being split up for tendering or risking becoming a private monopoly.
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