Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport (‘TRAN’) discussed on Monday 11 July the budget allocated to their committee in the framework of the EU’s Draft Budgetary Plan for the year 2023.
The rapporteur for the TRAN Committee, Vlad Gheorghe (Renew Europe, Romania), in his draft report, considers that the “transport and tourism sector” plays an important role in achieving the EU’s objectives, especially in environmental terms, and thus calls for “adequate” funding. This, he argues, could be done via “existing European funds, but also the creation of a budget line dedicated to tourism”.
In addition, the text highlights several areas for future work by the Committee on Transport, including energy independence, military mobility, affordability of transport services, improving working conditions in the sector, and reducing the shortage of truck drivers.
Transparency of public investment in infrastructure, sustainable mobility and promotion of cycling as a mode of transport are also priorities.
“The EU budget must support citizens, especially the most vulnerable and those most affected by rising energy costs”, said Elena Koundourá (The Left, Greece).
Some of her colleagues recalled the importance of investing in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and called for an increase in the budget of the Connecting Europe Facility. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)