October 2007 - EU: No veto against quantitative limit on transalpine traffic

The EU will not veto a Swiss quantitative limit on freight traffic for ideological reasons, said Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli, Director of Land Transport at the General Directorate of Energy and Transport at a transport congress in Locarno on October 19th. He thinks that the introduction of the exchange necessitates a functioning alternative. The EU top official also said that environmental protection is a valid argument for an area as sensitive as the Alps. Trading in transit rights was already mentioned in the mid-term review of the EU white book on transport in summer 2006 (second link).