Bitola Ibérica: Group warns Brussels that Portugal could become a railway island in Europe – Economy

In a letter sent to the commissioner, to which Lusa had access, the group of 29 subscribers said they were aware of Valean’s presentation in parliament on the state of play of the public consultation of the new TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network), welcoming the alert to the danger of peripheral regions being left out of this reform, aggravating economic and social imbalances.

“[…] We want to alert you to the risk of this happening in Portugal, a peripheral country that tends to become a railway island in Europe, due to the systematic delay in adopting the European gauge (1,435 mm) on its international lines ”, reads in document signed by officials such as former Industry Minister Luís Mira Amaral.

Thus, as they underlined, the country would be deprived of competitive land routes for the transportation of goods “to and from most of the European Union”, also preventing competition in the international railway operation, “relegating Portugal to a situation of railway monopoly, as defends the Portuguese Government ”.

Subscribers therefore expect the new TEN-T to be used to “drive a transformation” in the Portuguese railway infrastructure “towards its full integration into European networks”.

The group also said it was aware of the possibility for the European Commission to certify Portuguese airways “in Iberian gauge (1,668 mm) as interoperable, in itineraries along the Atlantic corridor of the core network, the gauge of which cannot be cease to be the one contained in the EU regulation 1315/2013 (1,435 mm) ”, a situation that makes the subscribers of the letter“ very concerned ”.

“We believe, first of all, that this certification would go against the objectives and affect the credibility of the new TEN-T. Instead of an instrument for modernization, strengthening mobility and promoting economic cohesion, this certification would, in practice, convert TEN-T into an instrument of bureaucratic justification for a historical error: it would contribute to the Portuguese rail system not opening up to Europe. , thus worsening the logistical conditions of a country that is geographically peripheral in relation to the center of Europe ”, they pointed out.

In this sense, the group of Portuguese asked the commissioner to clarify the position of Brussels on the “possible certification as interoperable lines of the core network in Iberian gauge”.

Among the signatories of this document are, in addition to Luís Mira Amaral, businessman Henrique Neto, former Secretary of State for Justice João Luís Mota Campos, the president of the Portuguese Business Association, Luís Miguel Ribeiro, as well as the president of Viseu City Council, António Almeida Henriques, and professor at the Higher Institute of Economics and Management José Augusto Felício.

–