The European Commission announced yesterday that it has brought Spain before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for not correctly applying the single European railway area directive. One of the issues that Brussels warns about is that the independence of the board of directors of Adif is not guaranteed, nor of Renfe, which implies that the State can “exercise a decisive influence” on the decisions of the company
The Community Executive said that it takes this decision after the application and transposition of the directive by Spain continues to be “incomplete in several aspects”. One of the issues of concern is that “the independence of the boards of directors of the infrastructure managers (Adif) and the corresponding railway company (Renfe) is not clearly guaranteed”, which is mandatory under the new directive.
Specifically, he considers that taking into account that the composition of Adif’s board of directors is appointed by the Ministry of Transport, and that the latter can “put an end to the mandate of the members and the rules relating to decision-making, it must be concluded that the State is indeed able to exercise a decisive influence on the agreements of the board of directors”. For example, in matters affecting the price of tickets.
Brussels has been warning Spain since 2018 to comply with the directive, and since then it has been half-heartedly applied, according to community services. In 2019, the Spanish Government responded that the objections had been resolved, but the Commission considered that some issues had not been applied correctly. For this reason, again at the end of that year he sent a letter so that the necessary changes were applied. At the end of 2022, the Spanish Government again notified the new measures, but the community analysis concludes that “all the points indicated” have not been addressed. As a result, it sends the country before European justice.
In its analysis, the Commission values ??that Spain modified the legislation so that Adif “now enjoys an adequate level of independence to establish the system of fees for the use of infrastructures”. However, he warns that “the new system is not yet operational” and that the law “does not contain any provision that obliges Adif to apply the new system within a certain period”. This means that “unless measures are adopted quickly, rail access fees will be considered de facto taxes that will be included in the next Spanish budget laws of 2024 and 2025”.
According to the Commission, “there is a risk that the old system will continue to be applied until 2024-2025”, and consequently, the railway companies “will not be able to challenge the access fees by rail” in the Spanish courts. Likewise, he considers that the law also lacks key elements in “the contractual agreement between the Spanish Government and infrastructure administrators”. European justice will have to study the allegations of both parties, but if Brussels is right, Spain could be forced to pay a fine until its legislation changes.
