Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 May, the European Parliament transport and tourism committee (TRAN) debated the draft report presented by Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) on sustainable urban transport. In her report, the Greens MEP stresses that “sustainable transport plans are the linchpin of sustainable cities” and calls for measures to make urban transport more competitive, as well as more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
She points out that “this report seeks to redirect urban transport to becoming sustainable” and proposes the withdrawal of diesel as a fuel by 2020 and petrol run cars by 2050. She calls on the European Commission to come up with a proposal for a climate-transport package and concluded: “This report will help reconcile citizens with the European project because everyone uses transport”.
There are now many European cities that face traffic congestion on a daily basis. Chronic traffic jams incur costs of over €80 billion and account for 23% of transport emissions in the EU. These figures are significant because the Commission's 2011 Transport White Paper planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% on average compared to average levels in 1990.
The report will be debated and put to the vote at the TRAN Committee in July and is expected to progress to the plenary session after the summer break. (Pascal Hansens)