Brussels, 27/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) that the White Paper would not reduce mobility and that the carbon tax would indeed be imposed on aviation. He presented the White Paper on transport during the EESC plenary session on Wednesday 26 October. He said that, in its broad lines, the EU's long term strategy on transport must break free from its dependence on oil products but without reducing citizen mobility, whose freedom depends on mobility and travel. “We do not want to prevent people from moving from one place to another!”, Kallas stressed, saying they wished, on the contrary, to enhance mobility.
White Paper. In the spring, the Commission presented some 40 measures to make transport more effective and safer. However, the commissioner told EESC counsellors: “The White Paper is not visionary, it is not a legislative text, it is not binding, rules will come afterwards and we shall have the time to discuss it with partners and those concerned”. After saying that rail and navigation are transport modes that are able to play a more important role, some members of the EESC expressed concern at seeing road transport left to one side. Kallas replied: “We cannot say that we are not backing road modernisation. The European Commission supports smart transport systems and cleaner engines. On the other hand, what we are not doing is envisaging an extension of the road network, and the TEN-T aims to improve networks as a whole”. The priority, as far as Kallas is concerned, is above all inter-modality and improved mobility. The Commission wants to develop more attractive methods of public transport, and promote bicycle or pedestrian mobility - which are healthier all round. The commissioner also announced that he will next year present a series of measures for rail, as, he bemoans, “today it is not possible to cross a border without changing trains!”. An end has therefore to be brought to fragmentation of the rail network.
The ETS puzzle. Quizzed on the thorny question of the European carbon tax imposed on aviation, to which many third countries refuse to submit (see EUROPE 10483), the commissioner recognises that the CO2 quota emissions trading system is a real headache. “The situation in Europe is bad and all EU countries hold it against us, for political reasons as, at commercial level, there are no problems. The companies have given us the figures. In coming weeks, the council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation will be meeting. This may result in a complaint against the EU, which will affect our reputation. However, if the European Commission opens the debate by stating its readiness to review the directive, there will be a chain reaction, endangering the whole emissions reduction strategy. We have little room for manoeuvre if we hope to keep to our reduction targets”, he concluded. (MD/transl.jl)