Greece’s appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union was accepted two weeks ago by the European Commission on the issue of railway infrastructure in the country. The appeal concerns a nearly eight-year delay in the signing and publication of a contract between the national authorities and the company managing the railway infrastructure.

According to a statement from the European Commission dated February 15, the decision was made due to the fact that Greece “has not fulfilled its obligations under the directive on the creation of a single European railway area (2012/34 / EU)”. In particular, as stated in the announcement, “the directive specifies that the Member States had to ensure that the contractual agreement between the national competent authority and the railway infrastructure manager is concluded no later than 16 June 2015 and published within one month.”

The conclusion and publication of the contractual agreement are characterized by the Commission as “particularly important for the transparency” of projects in the railway network. “This agreement should contain significant provisions, for example, regarding the amount of funds available for infrastructure services, as well as user-oriented performance targets (for example, line speed, customer satisfaction or environmental protection).”

It further notes that “despite the exchange of letters between the Commission and Greece, the national authorities have not yet signed and published a contractual agreement” with the OSE. The Commission opened a case of violation of the rights of Greece in this regard in December 2020 and sent a reasoned opinion in December 2021.

Setting the context for the decision to hand over Greece, the Commission adds: “The obligation to conclude and publish contractual agreements between national competent authorities and railway infrastructure managers is an important element of the single European railway area directive. These agreements include the rights and obligations of the Member State and the manager or managers of the infrastructure.” They cover “all aspects of infrastructure management, financial obligations of the Member State, performance requirements for the infrastructure manager, reporting obligations and rules for dealing with emergencies and major outages.”

They also include “remedial measures to be taken in the event of a breach by one of the parties of its contractual obligations or, in exceptional circumstances, if this would affect the availability of public funding. The agreements include a five-year financial basis for the construction, modernization and maintenance of railway infrastructure, which makes public funding predictable.”