PRIORITY ACTIONS FOR 2014-2015:
- ASECAP study on Concessions/ an ASECAP event in EP/Brussels
The ASECAP Study was presented to the members by the technical coordinator Christophe Boutin. The members welcomed the results of the study which prove the strong role of the concessions models in the infrastructure developments and the socio-economic growth. The Steering Committee approved the study and the ASECAP manifesto, and the two documents will be used from all ASECAP members where appropriate. The Secretary General informed the members that -as agreed by the Steering Committee- he was in permanent contacts with various members of the E. Parliament to safeguard their patronage in a big ASECAP event in the EP Headquarters. With many efforts he agreed with (the EP rapporteur on the concessions directive) Mr. Juvin to support an ASECAP event in the EP Headquarters (either beginning or end of February 2015).
Jean Mesqui (ASFA) indicated that the case of the concessions has become a key critical issue in certain states, thus ASECAP and its members should undertake really big actions towards the main political, financial and industrial stakeholders; he wondered whether a –practically- 3 hours event was enough to increase the awareness on the issue. The same philosophy was followed by Massimo Schintu from AISCAT who insisted on the need to work on the issue in a permanent and coordinated way. The Secretary General indicated and the Steering Committee agreed that both objectives are important: A focused event with the EP (IMCO and TRAN Committees, Commissioner of DGMOVE, Commissioner of Internal Market and Council representative) is a key priority for ASECAP but should be followed by additional, repeated, big events on the same topic.
President Oyvind Halleraker elaborated on these topics, thanked to contributors for their remarks, and fully supported the proposed activities; he proposed to the Steering Committee concrete actions by ASECAP and its members to this direction and with the Secretary General Kallistratos Dionelis and COPER I Chairman Bruno de la Fuente will start close cooperation towards structuring an ASECAP action plan. The Steering Committee fully supported the proposal.
- ASECAP Road Safety annual event in Wien
The event is under full coordination among the COPER II, the Secretariat and ASFINAG. The program is finalized and covers the various fields of road safety interest in which the policy makers are ready to undertake action (ITS Cooperative systems, Tunnel Safety, Safe Infrastructure management, cross-border enforcement, etc.) and a call for interest has been already sent to the members in order the interested ones to submit their proposals for presentations.
Developments in the EU / ASECAP activities and state of play:
- Report of the Secretary General ASECAP actions
The document of the Secretary General focuses on the main fields of ASECAP interest that need to be coordinated for a strong ASECAP presence in the new EU period.
Presenting his document, the Secretary General described the new political/structural environment in the EU Institutions and mainly the EC and the existing president, vice-presidents and simple Commissioners on which there are questions of its proper and efficient functioning. K. Dionelis focused on the strong role that ASECAP plays in the EU transport world and indicate that:
- ASECAP and its TCs are key players in the future EETS discussion.
- The ASECAP REETS project ended with success his first analytical phase and was extended to its deployment monitoring phase that will – in principle- end at 31/12/2015.
- On the Concessions ASECAP prepares a well - focused action plan.
- On the Road Safety EU activities ASECAP has managed to be part of the preparatory committees in the different fields (Tunnel safety, Safe Infrastructure management, signs and signals, etc).
- On ITS ASECAP is part of the new ITS Plenary Committee and participates in the different working groups that will assist the EC to prepare its draft ITS directive at the end of 2015. In addition ASECAP plays an active role in the ITS world and the EC Committee regarding the complex issue of radio Frequencies.
- On the Statistics discussions have opened with the COPERs chairs to harmonize a way of data gathering leading to a comparable understanding of the roads’ characteristics of ASECAP interest in the different ASECAP members. This matter will be a key of the future ASECAP activities and the new ASECAP web site and intranet will be used accordingly.
Related ASECAP actions (COPERs)
COPER I Chairman Bruno de la Fuente made brief reference to the EETS/REETS. In addition he will be prepared to cooperate with the other COPERs (mainly COPER II) in preparing the ASECAP position/proposal related to the directive on cross-border enforcement of road safety related offences. COPER I chair in cooperation with Secretary General will examine the ways to promote the ASECAP priorities related to the concessions role in EU transport fields.
COPER II chair Ms. Malika Seddi introduced all the major activities of COPER II starting from describing the next Road Safety ASECAP event in Wien. During this event COPER II will focus on the achievements by ASECAP members in reducing accident fatalities on their network.
Key issues of future ASECAP actions will be the EU new road safety orientations under examination (basically in the Tunnel Safety and the Safe Infrastructure management).
On COPER III, Chair Marko Jandrisits, presented the main actions carried out by COPER III. In particular he explained the latest developments of the acting experts in COPER III on the “radio frequency” issues having drafted various positions to support the case to DGMOVE and DGCONNECT expressing the concern of the toll industry.
COPER IV chair Mr. F. Stevanato presented the main work carried out concerning data collection within ASECAP. The main focus was on the comparison between the data of 2013 and 2014. A short analysis of the future of COPER IV has been presented in order to address the main issue of comparability and harmonization within ASECAP.
Administrative & budgetary issues: Budget 2015.
The Steering Committee approved unanimously the proposed 2015 budget and confirmed its previous decision to keep, as a result in the 2014 budget, and in full compliance with the legal provisions, the amount of 36.000 Euros related to the ASECAP 2013 event in Croatia.
Activity reports by the ASECAP members national developments
11 interested members presented in details the latest developments in their countries.
EGNATIA ODOS informed briefly the ASECAP Steering Committee that a Greek Association was established under the name HELLASTRON. It will have 7 members together with EGNATIA. As no details were provided the Steering Committee will wait to receive to examine detailed information on this important topic.
