Brussels, 07/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - The International Union of Public Transport (IUPT) has called upon the EU to allocate more money to modernise public transport systems in the new Member States, under the financial perspectives 2007-2013. In a press release, the IUPT asks for public transport to be "a priority of the European cohesion policy", and for the errors of the past "committed in many Eastern European countries" not to be repeated, such as giving priority to individual transport at the price of massive road congestion. Congestion problems cannot be resolved in the long term by building more roads, says the IUPT. For this reason, it wants to bring pressure to bear before it is too late, to maintain an attractive public transport network in the new Member States. Criticising the "marginal" proportion of the structural funds given over to public transport to date, the IUTP calls on the EU to spend a larger share of development funds on public transport, at discussions on the reform of the cohesion policy. It also pleads in favour of training for public transport employees, and for better co-ordination between the various levels of authority and modes of transport.