Brussels, 16/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's communication on the future of transport policy foresees a European policy which aims to promote a more environmentally friendly, easily accessible and better integrated transport system to face the changes of the next half century, such as population ageing, the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, the need for mobility due to migratory flows and climate change. Rather than pursue the objectives of the 2001 White Paper on transport, which focused more on modal transfer from road to rail, the communication, that the Commission is expected to present on Wednesday 17 June, suggests effort should be focused on the integration of different kinds of transport as well as the development and deployment of new technologies. No new financing sources, other than the strategy for internalising external costs of already existent public means and transport, are foreseen at this point in time. The Commission has chosen to open a public consultation exercise until the end of September 2009 on the basis of which it will put forward proposals in a new White Paper due in 2010.
Under the title “a sustainable future for transport: towards an integrated, technology-led and user-friendly system”, the communication suggests operational objectives in seven main areas:
Safe and secure public transport. Particular attention should be paid to protecting privacy which, according to the Commission, may be threatened by means deployed for surveillance, registration and control, which are necessary in European companies becoming increasingly multi-cultural and heterogeneous. People with reduced mobility should benefit from comfortable solutions. The new infrastructures should be accessible to all citizens, and of a kind that means people are more willing to use urban transport, while also encouraging travel by bicycle or on foot. A well maintained and entirely integrated network. The new policy is aimed at ensuring thorough coordination of transport networks, which are currently fragmented at national and Community level. Coordination would concern every level, from infrastructures such as rail and road, to administrative procedures and information and communication technologies. As far as passenger transport is concerned, the Commission considers it essential to ensure full coordination between aviation and high-speed rail networks. For goods transport, it would, the Commission states, be essential to set in place a real logistic system that would above all allow development of ports and intermodal terminals. And for transport in towns, the Commission recommends modal transfer to promote other, more environmentally-friendly modes of transport. At infrastructure level, it suggests strategies for better up-keep and coordination allowing accidents to be reduced, as well as operational costs, pollution, congestion and noise. More sustainable transport from the environmental point of view. In order to ensure transport is more ecological, the new objectives should tend towards lower consumption of non-renewable fuels (petrol, natural gas, oils, etc). The Commission nonetheless considers that, in order to mitigate the adverse effect that transport has on the environment, especially when it comes to noise, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, policies developed hitherto should be re-assessed and regularly adjusted in the future. In the longer term, all elements should be taken into account for operation of transport means (noise, emissions) and also infrastructure (use of land, bio-diversity). Keeping the EU at the forefront of transport services and technology. According to the Commission, technological innovation will be the main contributor to resolving the challenges shaping up in the transport sector. It will provide more comfortable services for passengers, increase security and safety and reduce the sector's impact on the environment. The development of “soft infrastructure” such as intelligent transport systems, the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), and aviation (Single Sky and its technological side, SESAR), backed by the Galileo satellite radio navigation system, may make the best use of existing infrastructure while innovative technology for vehicles may reduce dependency on petrol, reduce toxic emissions and increase mobility. To meet such needs, it is important for the EU to step up productivity, mainly by investing more in research and development. Protecting and developing human capital. In this social chapter of the communication, the Commission places emphasis on the protection of workers that run the risk, in “some sectors”, of losing jobs because of adjustments made to the energy and economic context. The Commission believes it is important to ensure that such developments are forestalled and managed so that new work posts can be created in the same sector. The Commission suggests that, among the mechanisms that could help this situation, there are measures already in existence such as worker consultation and information, social dialogue, the identification of the need for qualified personnel and training and the setting in place of tools that can control the correct unfolding of company restructuring. The social protection system and public services should contribute to facilitating adjustments of this kind.
The future transport policy should also take gender issues into account and ensure easier access for women to jobs in the transport field, and ensure that the differences between the social conditions of member states do not become a factor that encourages social dumping. Intelligent prices. Based on the ideas underpinning the revised proposal for a directive on the taxation of heavy goods vehicles (Eurovignette II), the objectives listed in this chapter call for the introduction of differentiated and incentive tariffs depending on the use of less polluting modes of transport or infrastructure outside peak hours. The new tariffs should be conceived in such a way that citizens can chose the mode of transport that suits them best, being the most competitive and affordable. Improving accessibility. In addition to the new pricing policies, passengers should benefit from easier access to transport means thanks to better planning of ground space, decentralisation and greater account taken of their needs during the planning process. The draft communication is also in favour of improving “virtual” accessibility to transport means. It may be developed, in particular, thanks to the setting in place of information technologies such as tele-working, e-governance and others.
The Commission recognises that, in the context of the financial crisis, it would be difficult to make additional funding sources available and therefore recommends, in this context, a self-financing system for the sector. Additional revenue could be found through better tax collection on energy (fuel taxes) or on vehicles as well as the setting in place of the strategy for internalising external costs for all modes of transport (inclusion of aviation in the emissions trading system and the introduction of charges for heavy vehicles). The same strategy could be implemented when it comes to financing infrastructure, mainly through application of levies for congestion. From a legal point of view, the Commission undertakes to pursue liberalisation of transport markets as well as harmonisation of environmental commitments, effective control systems, the protection of working conditions and users' rights, without harmonisation being detrimental to current norms and standards. (A.By./transl.jl)