Brussels, 20/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Netherlands has taken the top spot in the second EU transport scoreboard, published by the European Commission on Friday 20 November.
The Netherlands is in the top five EU member states in 16 of the 29 indicators used in drawing up the table, including the quality of its port and airport infrastructure where it occupies top position. Overall, it is the countries of northern Europe which dominate the list, with Sweden in second position, followed by Finland, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany. France comes in at tenth, after Latvia. Italy comes only 25th, largely as a result of the high number of infringement proceedings opened against it. Romania brings up the rear and is in the bottom five in 15 indicators.
“This ranking must not be seen as a Champions League table”, said a European source, but rather as a message to each member state to help it improve the transport system to make it more sustainable. “It's also a way to apply some peer pressure”, another said, indicating that the reception given to the scoreboard was closely linked to the position achieved.
The indicators used fall into four categories: - Internal Market, which takes account of the opening up of the rail market, the number of infringement proceedings and the state of transposition of EU transport directives; - Investment and infrastructure, which includes progress towards completion of the TEN-T core network; - Energy Union and innovation where performance is shown for example in the share of renewable energy in transport fuel consumption and the number of registered vehicles using substitute fuels; - People, a category which monitors the levels of road and rail safety and also the percentage of women employed in the transport sector.
Nonetheless, the terms of reference are still far from being settled, it is suggested by the institutions. In the first scoreboard, 22 indicators were used, seven fewer than in this second edition. For the moment, all the indicators have the same weighting. This, however, is only the start, a source said, and changes could be brought. The ultimate goal is to provide a stable framework that allows comparison over time of the situations in member states. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)