France and Britain to reject calls for Channel Tunnel charges to be cut
France and Britain plan to reject the European Commission’s request to lower charges for passenger and freight trains using the Channel Tunnel.
In June, the Commission gave both countries two months to respond to a request to lower the fees or face possible court action.
It said excessively high track-access charges resulted in higher ticket prices for passengers of the Eurostar service linking London with Paris and Brussels.
"I met both ministers in person a couple of hours ago and they told me that both France and Britain would jointly reject the EU’s request," Jacques Gounon, CEO of operator Eurotunnel told Reuters.
A spokeswoman for the Commission said in June that partly as a result of the high charges, 43% of the tunnel’s capacity was not used.
Under EU law, rail companies are only allowed to charge fees consistent with the amount of wear caused by a train journey.
But a Commission investigation claimed operators of the Channel Tunnel were charging more than necessary and using the income to subsidise the operator’s car shuttle service, which does not pay such charges.
Diane
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