Brussels, 13/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The theme of the very first joint meeting of European environment and transport ministers, in Amsterdam on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 April, is political and technical innovation in the service of smart green mobility for sustainable transport. This is an innovative initiative by the Dutch Presidency (see EUROPE 11462).
The meeting will be chaired by Dutch infrastructure and environment minister and acting chair of the Environment Council Sharon Dijksma, along with Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Dutch transport minister and acting chair of the Transport Council.
Sustainable mobility is one of the four priorities of the Dutch Presidency in the environment domain (see EUROPE 11468). The fact that this exploratory meeting on mobility is taking place in Amsterdam sends a strong signal because on 8 April, Amsterdam was awarded the 2016 prize for the European Capital of Innovation awarded by DG Research at the European Commission.
The meeting will take place at the National Maritime Museum and the adjacent Europa Building. It will focus on autonomous vehicles, which the ministers will be able to try out on a trip to Expo Innovation in cars provided by the European Association of Car Manufacturers (ACEA).
On Thursday 14 April, environment ministers will have a discussion about green mobility solutions for cutting CO2 emissions from road transport, which is a large contributor to global warning. The European approach to be developed to take advantage of existing technology and encourage their wide-scale deployment in the member states will then be discussed with Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella and Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, active in the decarbonisation of transport. In parallel, the transport ministers will discuss smart mobility solutions with the Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc.
Following the joint visit to Expo Innovation, the ministers will all meet up on Thursday afternoon for a joint meeting that will continue on Friday morning.
Some of Friday will be devoted to the follow-up to COP21, particularly efforts to be made to encourage global solutions guaranteeing the contribution of shipping and international air transport to the fight against climate change. This is one of the objectives of the EU action plan for climate diplomacy for 2016, following the signing of the Paris Agreement (see EUROPE 11490), with an eye to the agreement expected at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in September on a global market mechanism to cut international aviation's emissions (see EUROPE 11508), and the progress hoped for in talks at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Ségolène Royal, chair of OP 21, will not attend the meeting in Amsterdam so France will be represented by Secretary of State for Transport and the Sea, Alain Vidalies.
Another innovation in the organisation of the Amsterdam Council meeting is that there will not be any press conferences during the two days of talks. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)