The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, whose term of office begins on Wednesday 1 January, wishes to “focus on the issue of strengthening the resilience of the transport sector and deepening transport cooperation with countries aspiring to join the EU”, according to its programme. It also wants to make tourism more competitive:
“Transport is crucial to the development of Member States’ economies, the well-being of their citizens and the building of Europe's security, particularly in the context of the current geopolitical challenges, which underline the need to improve the transport not only of passengers and goods, but also of troops and armaments, and to ensure the effective protection of transport infrastructures.”
TEN-T. According to the Polish authorities, from the point of view of the efficient functioning of the single market and the territorial cohesion of the EU, the implementation of a coherent European transport infrastructure based on a revised trans-European transport network (TEN-T) is crucial.
The TEN-T was revised in the first half of 2024 (see EUROPE 13433/10).
Poland is placing particular emphasis on decarbonising transport, developing alternative energy sources and digital transformation, as well as improving the security and resilience of infrastructure. “The Presidency will focus on the increased need for investment in the transport sector, including improving military mobility within the EU,” it added.
Rail and sea transport. Poland considers increasing rail transport capacity to be a priority, particularly with the finalisation of the draft regulation on the use of rail infrastructure capacity in the single European railway area.
Negotiations with the European Parliament on this dossier have not yet begun (see EUROPE 13499/19). The proposal for a directive on a support framework for intermodal freight transport is still blocked by the EU Council (see EUROPE 13539/7).
The Presidency will also have to begin negotiations with the European Parliament on the revision of the regulation on the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) (see EUROPE 13369/21). It will also focus on the issue of improving the competitiveness of the transport sector and provide a forum for debate on the competitiveness of rail transport and the safety and competitiveness of maritime operators.
Road transport. Poland will continue work on the revision of the directive on the weights and dimensions of vehicles circulating in the EU, which is blocked by the EU Council and has made little progress under the Hungarian Presidency (see EUROPE 13503/17).
The Presidency will also begin work on revising the technical inspection package as soon as it is published. It was the subject of a public consultation by the European Commission in 2022 (see EUROPE 12987/30).
“We consider road safety to be an extremely important element of EU transport policy, so if the road safety package is not finalised, we will endeavour to complete it,” it said.
Passenger rights. The Polish Presidency will stress the importance of the legal framework for passenger rights. The two regulations on passenger rights were agreed by the EU Council on Thursday 5 December (see EUROPE 13539/6).
In the field of air transport, it plans to resume work on revising the regulation on air passenger rights in order to clarify and update its provisions (see EUROPE 13540/9).
Tourism. The Presidency will pursue three objectives: - promote Europe as a safe tourist destination; - increase the competitiveness of sustainable European tourism and its products; - boost the tourist appeal of less popular and outlying regions.
It will continue its work to improve the effectiveness of traveller protection and to simplify and clarify certain aspects of the ‘package travel’ directive, which was agreed by the EU Council on Wednesday 18 December (see EUROPE 13548/23).
The European transport ministers will be meeting informally in Warsaw on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 March 2025. As for their counterparts in charge of Tourism, they will be meeting in the Polish capital on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 June 2025.
Read the Presidency programme: https://aeur.eu/f/ewk
See the draft agendas for Council meetings during the first semester of 2025: https://aeur.eu/f/exi (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)