The International Association of Public Transport (UITP), the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the European Metropolitan Transport Authorities (EMTA) and European Passenger Transport Operators (EPTO) today announced their concerns with the so-called state aids Block Exemption Regulations.

The proposal includes a change to the public service obligations (PSO) regulation for land passenger transport which induces legal uncertainty. UITP, CER, EMTA and EPTO now call upon the European Parliament and the European Council to take action to withdraw the PSO part of this proposal in order to preserve the special needs of the land transport sector.

UITP, CER, EMTA and EPTO consider that this Proposal for a Regulation is unacceptable for the following reasons:

1. The Proposal for a Council Regulation would introduce major legal uncertainty for all public service contracts in the inland passenger transport sector;

2. The Proposal would create an unacceptable democratic deficit as it would remove both the European Parliament and the Member State governments from having a future significant role in deciding on how funding for public transport complies with European law.

3. Contrary to what is asserted by the European Commission, the current regime regulating public service compensation in the inland transport sector is not contradictory to the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).

4. The PSO Regulation in force since 2009 is the result of a long and difficult legislative process, a well reflected fine-tuned political equilibrium which should not be changed so easily.

UITP, CER, EMTA and EPTO hope that both the European Parliament and the European Council will share these concerns and convince the European Commission to re-think this part of the proposal.