This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Executive confirms need to tender ferry services
25/06/2004
The Clyde and Hebrides ferry services will be put out to
tender, Transport Minister Nicol Stephen confirmed
today.
The decision to proceed with the tendering of the
services currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne was
taken on the basis of advice from the European Commission,
following last year's decision by the European Court of
Justice in relation to a German bus company, Altmark and
the publication earlier this year of revised guidelines on
maritime state aids.
The Minister met with the Chef de Cabinet to the
European Commissioner for Transport and Energy in Brussels
in April to discuss EU rules with regard to the tendering
of the subsidised ferry services.
Mr Stephen said:
"Over the past few months there has been much discussion
about the implications for these important ferry services
following the European court ruling in the Altmark case
last year. Following discussions with the European
Commission, it is now clear that this does not affect our
need to tender. The Altmark case affects the payment of
state aid to transport operators - but not the requirement
to tender ferry services such as those operated by CalMac.
"This process should start by the end of the year and
will be carried out after a short consultation on the
service requirements. Bidders should be invited to tender
in Spring next year with the new contract awarded in
2006.
"Discussions are ongoing about separate proposals for
the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service and a further
announcement will be made in due course."
The European Court of Justice's ruling in relation to
Altmark involved the case of a German bus company and
whether subsidies granted to the company were considered to
be state aid prohibited by the EC Treaty. This caused some
speculation that the ferry services currently provided by
Caledonian MacBrayne did not have to be put out to
competitive tender.
The Minister for Transport met Mr Daniel Calleja, the
Head of the Transport Commissioner's Cabinet, and
Commission officials in Brussels in April. At that
meeting, the Commission representatives explained that the
Altmark ruling did not affect the need to tender the CalMac
services as this derives from the specific European
regulations relating to maritime transport. These have not
been changed by the Altmark ruling.
Following the meeting, the Minister and the Commission
agreed a statement recording the outcome of the
discussions. This has now been issued today in response to
a Parliamentary Question from George Lyon MSP. It
states:
"The decision of the European Court of Justice in the
Altmark case raised speculation by commentators about the
possible implications for the tendering of the Clyde and
Hebrides ferry services. I met recently with the
Commission to discuss the possible effects of Altmark on
the Executive's plans for those services. Following that
meeting it is now clear that there continues to be a
requirement on the Executive to tender the services.
The reasons for this are:
• The Altmark case concerned the question of whether a
payment constituted state aid. The requirements for public
tendering of ferry services stem from the Maritime Cabotage
Regulation. This regulation has a different Treaty base to
the State aid rules. The Altmark judgement therefore does
not affect the issue of whether public tendering is
required.
• The Maritime Cabotage Regulation states that, where a
Member State concludes public service contracts or imposes
public service obligations, it shall do so on a
non-discriminatory basis in respect of all Community
shipowners. The Commission could not envisage any
circumstances in which the requirements of this regulation
could be satisfied in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides
services without tendering. The Altmark judgement did not
change its view on this issue in any way.
The Executive expects to begin the tendering process
later this year. This is the best way forward in order to
help provide the necessary certainty of service provision
that communities need. In coming to this conclusion, I
have taken account of the meeting I had on 29 April 2004
with the Cabinet of Mrs De Palacio, the European
Commissioner for Transport and Energy. This confirmed both
the general principles involved and the detailed legal and
practical issues related to the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry
Services."