ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES DE LA COMMISSION COLLECTION RELIEE DES DOCUMENTS "COM" COM (80) 86 Vol. 1980/0029 Disclaimer Conformément au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 (JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit règlement. In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 27.9.2003, p. 1), this file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation. In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1. Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983, S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. September 2003 (ABI. L 243 vom 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5 der genannten Verordnung freigegeben. COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES COM(80)86 final Brussels . 11th April 1980 RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR / IN PARTICULAR : A COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE BUILDING OF A MOTORWAY (Communication from the Commission to the Council ) / • fC/V' ' i: - \ \N rv * ' ■ – i y < s ,, .) ^ - .v > .4 V\ o -.7 V/x COM (80 ) 86 final CONTENTS V ZÈ31 / ' I.INITIAL SITUATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA 1 IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR 1 . Transport policy situation 1 1.1 . The geographical importance of Austria for transport , 1 particularly transit 1.2 . Effects on Austria 2 1.3 . Austria 's request in respect of the financing of the IKPA motorway 3 1.4. Introduction of a road tax in Austria 4 1.5 . Initiatives and moves within the European Parliament 5 1.6 . Exchange of views between the Commission and Austria 6 1.7. Exploratory talks - accession of Greece 6 1.8. Interim - summing-up 7 2 .. The wider political context of relations between the Community and Austria in the Transport sector 8 ' 2.1 . Importance with regard to integration policy' 8 2.1.1 . The accession of Greece ' 8 2.1.2 . Intra-Community aspects 9 2.2 . Importance for external relations 9 2.2.1 . Cooperation with the EFTA countries , 10 2.2.2 . Relations with Austria 10 2.2.3 . Relations with Yugoslavia 11 2.2.4 . Relations with Turkey and Middle Eastern countries 13 3 . Conclusions ^ 13 II . ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC TRANSPORT PROBLEMS AND ASSESSMENT OF MUTUAL INTERESTS 15 4 . Transport infrastructure - IKPA motorway 15 4.1 . Commission infrastructure policy 15 4.2 . Cooperation with certain non-member countries 15 4.3 . Community financial contribution towards the building of the IKPA motorway 16 - 2 - 4.3.1 . Request from the Austrian Government 16 4.3.2 . Evaluation of Community interest 17 4.3.3 . Effect of the opening of the IKPA motorway 19 on traffic carried by other lines of communication ( impact on the network ) 4.3.4 . Summary 19 5 . Allocation of infrastructure costs - Austrian road tax 20 5.1 . The problem 2Ck . 5.2 . Situation at Community level 20 5.3 . Situation regarding road tax in Austria 21 5.4 . Summary 21 6 . Access to the market 22 6.1 . Carriage of passengers by road 22 6.2 . Carriage of goods by road 22 6.2.1 . 22 6.2.2 . 23 6.2.3 . 24 6.3 . Inland shipping 24 7 . Weights and Dimensions 25 8 . Cooperation between Railways 26 9 . Combined road / rail transport (" ferrout«ge "> 26 10 . Other subjects 27 11 . Assessment of interests from the Transport economy viewpoint 27 . 11.1 . IKPA motorvay 27 11.2 . Austrian road tax 28 11.3 . Road transport quotas 28 11.4 . Other subjects 29 12 . Conclusions 29 III . TACTICAL AND NEGOTIATING PROBLEMS 13 . Type of Approach to the Negotiations and their extent 13.1 . Approach by type of problem 13.2 . The broader approach 14 . Need for a Community decision on the financing of the IKPA motorway , 14.1 . Tactical reasons 14.2 . Transport Policy reasons 14.3 . External policy reasons 15 . Conclusions - - 7 -, i IV . PROCEDURAL PROBLEMS 16.1 . Continuation of exploratory talks 16.2 . Budgetary aspects V. CONCLUSIONS ANNEXES I - Maps ' II - Analysis of transit traffic in the NW-SE corridor III- Forecast of Transit flow of goods and passengers in the NW-SE corridor in Austria IV - Impact of IKPA on the existing and future transport infrastructure Relations with Austria xn the transport sector , in particular a Community financial contribution to the building of a motorway I. INITIAL SITUATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR Transport policy situation 1.1 . The geographical importance of Austria for transport , parti­ cularly transit > Because of its location , Austria occupies a strategic position in Central Europe as far as inland transport is concerned , espe­ cially from the Community 's point of view . It is a pivot of great importance for North-South traffic in Europe . ' significant , A/ and constantly increasing , portion of intra-Community traffic is obliged to go through Austrian territory , particularly traffic to and from Italy . The accession of Greece and the growth of trade between the present Community and this new Member State will further promote this trend . More broadly : Austrian overland territory carries a very large share of the/traffic between the Community and its trading partners in South-Eastern Europe , particularly Yugoslavia , and in the Middle East . The need to pass through Austria applies not only to the comnercial carriage of goods , but also to movements of private individuals be they notably by . private car tourists or migrant workers/ "It is thus evident , from the geographic viewpoint alone , that the transit of goods and passengers through Austria is of considerable economic and political importance for the Conmunity / which-consequently- has every interest in seeing a smooth flow of traffic through that country assured . ' - 2 - 1.2 . Effects on Austria Conversely , /tiiis applies equally to Austria , which is obliged to bear the burden of this transit traffic and provide the appropriate facilities . Statistics^ show that transit goods traffic through Austria has grown exceptionally fast in recent years : between 1972 and 1977 its volume increased from 5.4 million to 14 million 0 tonnes , with 95% of it going to or coming from the Community . This is more than double the volume of road haulage traffic transiting Switzerland , Yugoslavia , Greece and Turkey . To provide a comparison : only 8.4 million tonnes passed through territories Germany and 7.9 million through France (/6f transit far larger than Austria . At the same time , the volume of transit road traffic through Switzerland has never reached a comparable level and amounts to only some 0.4 million tonnes at present , because of various restrictive measures , which have been in force for many years , in particular , the 28 tonne limit on the total weight of road vehicles , both Swiss and foreign , using the Swiss road network . ./• Studies carried out by the European Conference of Transport Ministers ( ECTM ) , Paris 2The road transport of goods in transit across Austria amounted to about 2.25 milliards of tonnes/km in 1977 ; in comparison the level in Germany reached about 5.25 milliards of tonnes/km in 1977 , on a much greater road network than exists in Austria . This increase in road transit , together with the increases in road transport from and to Austria and in domestic traffic , has produced an increasingly difficult situation for Austria , which is finding itself obliged , ever-increasingly and rapidly , to : ( i ) provide adequate road infrastructure ( ii ) allocate public funds for this purpose ( iii ) suffer ill effects on the environment and quality of life . The situation is aggravated by Austria 's being a small mountains country , so that there are additional difficulties in finding solutions to the problems of transit traffic . 1.3 . Austria 's request in respect of the financing of the IKPA motorway On the north-west/south-east route known as the "Gastarbeiter- ' route""'' , at present used for transport between Germany and Yugoslavia , the situation is particularly difficult and stretched . This route consists of local roads , often narrow and in mountainous terrain , where the infrastructure is clearly inadequate to meet the demands of the traffic ; it is consequently noted for frequent long traffic jams and an exceptionally high accident rate . At present about 180 O00 lorries a year use this route in . transit , repre­ senting about 840 million tonne-kilometre , and the average 2 yearly rate of growth is forecast as 5,9% . In addition , this route is very heavily used by tourists and migrant workers coming from or going to South-Eastern Europe . To remedy this situation , Austria has decided to speed up the . construction of a transverse NW/SE motorway , known as the "Innkreis-Pyhrn-Autobahn" ( IKPA ) , which will link the German motorway network at Passau with the Yugoslav road network at - ./.