European Transport Ministers will be meeting informally in Barcelona on Friday 22 September, to discuss mobility and transport as tools for social and territorial cohesion.
“We are at a time of disruptive transformation in mobility, based on two main vectors of change: decarbonisation and digitalisation”, explained an official source on Wednesday 20 September. “These two areas of transformation must be approached as solutions to people’s needs”, the source added.
The first working session will focus on social cohesion. Ministers will consider how to achieve a transport system that is designed and managed to bring people together and reduce inequalities.
The second session will focus on territorial cohesion, including the particular needs of regions facing connectivity problems, where collaboration between different levels of government is essential.
The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union wants to put “people at the centre” of its concerns so that, at European level, the emphasis is also placed on people’s daily mobility needs, particularly in territories and social areas with the greatest difficulties. The political commitment in this area will be reflected in the adoption of the ‘Barcelona Declaration’.
This declaration will enshrine mobility as an essential catalyst for social and territorial cohesion. It will highlight the fact that public policies should give priority to meeting people’s everyday mobility needs, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable people and the communities concerned. Similarly, public authorities should promote an integrated mobility system that guarantees accessibility throughout the country, with specific solutions for sparsely populated areas.
It will also mention the acceleration of digitalisation in order to provide better mobility solutions and data to better design public policies. The European Commission will be encouraged to promote this approach to mobility. The fact that this area requires the collaboration of national, regional and local authorities, as well as the involvement of the private sector, will also be emphasised.
At a meeting with a number of journalists in Brussels on Monday 18 September, the French Transport Minister, Clément Beaune, announced that he wished to “put forward ideas to be implemented”, in particular that of a minimum fare on air tickets (see EUROPE 13240/21) and a single data medium for transport. “It makes sense to take action at European level for the ecological transition, and we need to have desirable and attractive objects in addition to standards”, he said.
Asked about the idea of a minimum fare for air tickets on Tuesday 19 September in the European Parliament, the Spanish Transport Minister, Raquel Sánchez Jiménez, replied that this issue would not be discussed during the informal meeting (see EUROPE 13254/13). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)