COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 22 January 1990 concerning trans-European networks (90/C 27/05)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Considering the conclusions adopted in the field of trans-European networks by the European Council meeting in Strasbourg on 8 and 9 December 1989; Considering that the process of the completion of an area without frontiers provided for in Article 8a of the Treaty has reached a stage of irreversibility; Considering that citizens, businesses and administrations must be able to use communication infrastructures which enable them to encourage free movement within the Community; Considering that the development of trade and the movement of persons and the requirements of economic and social cohesion may necessitate the improvement and extension of communication networks, including the creation of networks where none exist yet; Considering that, in so far as infrastructures are currently planned and developed principally at national level, it is necessary to solve the problems of compatibility and inter-operability which may affect their efficiency, inter alia, by the development, where appropriate, of standards; Considering that, in a certain number of sectors, infrastructure networks are provided by competing private sector operators, and that the Commission should take account of this in its proposals; Considering that particular infrastructure projects need to be evaluated against firm criteria, including their economic viability, respect for the natural environment, the special attention which needs to be paid to the situation of the peripheral regions in the context of economic and social cohesion and the possible effects on free circulation; Considering that Community projects which have already been adopted or are being implemented should not be impaired, HEREBY ADOPTS THIS RESOLUTION: 1. The Council considers that special priority should be given, paying particular attention to situations arising at the Community's limits in the context of economic and social cohesion, to the development and inter-connection of trans-European networks, notably in the areas of air traffic control, energy distribution, transport infrastructure and in particular the most efficient surface communications links, and telecommunications, in particular the linking of the main Community conurbations by broad-band telecommunications networks, and the implementation of existing Community training programmes. 2. The Council invites the Commission to submit to it, before the end of 1990, a work programme and proposals for appropriate measures, taking into account the possibility of extending such action to the whole of the Community and without prejudice to the distribution of work among the various formations of the Council. The Commission will submit an initial progress report during the first half of 1990.The Council notes that the Commission intends to organize its future work programme around the following points:- verification as to whether Community intervention is justified or whether projects should rather be carried out by other public or private bodies,-the establishment of a timetable for completion,-the identification of any obstacles and shortcomings,-the evaluation of financing problems,-the provision, if needed, of a consultation procedure to precede the establishment of projects. 3. The Commission will convene, whenever necessary, a working party comprising the persons responsible desig- nated by each Member State to coordinate the work on the realization of trans-European networks.The Council considers that the preparation of this programme entails broad consultation with a view to drawing up the report which the Commission is to submit before the end of the first half of 1990.