The European transport ministers will be meeting informally in Brussels on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 April to discuss the greening of transport, active mobility and cycling, as well as rail connectivity between European cities.
The greening of transport will be discussed during the opening session. Despite the measures already taken, the transport sector is the only one that has not managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions because of the constant increase in demand. In addition to improving existing modes of transport, the ministers will discuss the need to move towards more sustainable modes of transport (see EUROPE 13375/26).
The morning session will therefore be devoted to active mobility - in particular, cycling. The growth in the use of this means of transport in recent years has had positive effects not only on mobility, but also on the environment, air quality and mental and physical health, according to the communication from the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council. What’s more, according to the Presidency, cycling has a positive impact on the economy, both by reducing the cost of traffic jams and through the production of electric bicycles.
The Presidency has identified the key measures that should be included in a European cycling policy: - increase and facilitate the financing of cycling infrastructure through European funds and facilities; - establish a European industrial and economic cycling strategy to produce, (re)sell, repair and recycle bicycles in Europe; - share data and best practice at European level to help national, regional and local authorities develop cycling.
The European ministers will then sign the ‘EU Declaration on Cycling’ (see EUROPE 13350/8).
The afternoon will be devoted to rail connectivity between European cities. The speakers will highlight several key elements for improving it. The issues of night trains, existing rail capacity (see EUROPE 13369/20) and facilitating international and multimodal rail ticketing will be addressed.
In the evening, a memorandum of understanding between the European Railway Agency (ERA) and Ukrainian Railways will be signed in the presence of the Ukrainian authorities (see EUROPE 13377/20).
On Thursday, the ministers will continue their discussion on strengthening the resilience and financing of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) with senior representatives from the European Parliament, third countries and the European Commission (see EUROPE 13348/28). The ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF) has been the main funding instrument supporting investment in the TEN-T since 2014, along with other EU funding instruments such as the Cohesion Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, the Resilience and Recovery Facility and InvestEU.
At the end of this session, the ministerial conclusions on the Danube will be signed by the European Commission and the countries involved (see EUROPE 13077/2). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)