Debate: EU strategy for mobility and transport: measures needed until  and beyond
Date: WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Adina-Ioana Vălean
Language: EN

I do recognise what you are saying on all the ideas. We are working on them in the Commission in order to put forward this strategy by the end of the year. All the points are valid. And, as I said at the beginning, for this strategy to be successful we need to have everyone on board. So it needs to be just, and it needs to how create new jobs, it has to be accepted. And this will be part of our thinking. Listening to you all, it also becomes very clear that there are baskets of measures for each mode. There is not merely one solution for everything, and we have to carefully blend and balance several measures in order to achieve smoothly the best possible outcome in the short term. Because people are expecting to see results rather quickly from our work on the sustainability of transport. Many of you stressed the importance of the TEN-T infrastructure. And I can only say that I share this view, where it is needed, because it is incomplete, be it for various modes of cross-border interconnection. We know that we need to do more there in order to help create the missing links, which are not necessarily economically sustainable. And this would be the role of the European Union to add and support the missing links. And why not eliminate the barriers, which are cross-border, in order to make flows easier? The Commission announced – or at least I’m telling you – that we’re are going to revise the TEM-T infrastructure in 2021. Many Members mentioned alternative fuels infrastructure and alternative fuels as such. I think this is also very much in connection with aviation, which was intensely mentioned. We have to keep in mind that both aviation and maritime transport are global businesses. Once more, we need to understand there are baskets of measures, there are technological advances and there are alternative fuels. We need to very carefully look into them and into the market and the volume of this kind of fuels on the market, so that they could have an important uptake. But these are all things we are looking at. A lot of you talked about implementation. Of course it is all for nothing if we adopt legislation which is not implemented in the end. So many countries are very late in implementing important things in regulation. We could mention railway signalling as just one example. Many Members mentioned the fact that there are files which are blocked by the Council. I hope I can assure you that, for example, the single European sky is something I’m trying to lobby for and promote in each meeting I have with any representative of the Member States. We have it on the table and we’d like very much to see it moved forward by the Croatian presidency. This is something I’m insisting on, and I really hope we will have movement here. The same is true with the Eurovignette, we haven’t withdrawn the Eurovignette, we are trying to lobby for it in order to benefit from all the good work done. We have to push forward so that the Council will have a general approach – hopefully – by June. Because the Eurovignette or the single European sky are the kind of things which will make a difference in road transport or improving the efficiency of air traffic. And this will have a concrete impact on sustainability and on the reduction of emissions or on internalising the externalities in road transport. Road  safety was mentioned. Of course, road safety has to be at the core of our activity. And what we are going to propose, or work on, is a safe system, which is an integrated approach towards safety in transport. Because, as was mentioned by several people here, there are so many elements which together constitute the environment for safety in transport. All this needs to be taken into account.  All the ideas I heard are very good. And the last word would be on the fact that all the industries in connection with transport as such are the backbone of our economy. We need to make it more sustainable and smart, but keep in mind that it is competitive and it has to remain as such. And for this industry – as it was mentioned – we need measures which are predictable so people will know, investors will know, what it coming  so they can plan in advance for 10 or 20 years.  I also had some particular questions from Mr Schulze on low-emission zones or the harmonising of vignette systems. This is something we are working on. Because the idea of having low-emission zones is good. Yes it is, but it is true that for people moving around not knowing the system is a deterrent or an obstacle. So what we are looking at is to propose a harmonisation of these systems for urban areas. For the Eurovignette, we have already said that we would like to support the Eurovignette.  The question on inland waterways raised by Mr Băsescu: inland waterways need to become the new big thing because I think they are underused. You are absolutely right, because inland waterways together with transport with rail are the most sustainable modes we have. And new progress on inland waterways is needed in terms of sustainability of the ports and the vessels and new intelligent traffic systems. All these are there, we are looking into them. And you are right that the Danube Commission, which is 70 years old – or something similar, you know would know better – has a different regulation. But I promise you, we are going to look into harmonisation. I think because they are non-EU members it is not easy but it is absolutely needed. So thank you very much for the suggestion. So this would be, honourable Members, in a nutshell, my reaction to your comments. I trust that you will get involved in the work on such a sustainable transport system for the future. And, Madam President, consider this my invitation to you to contribute to this work. So thank you very much and I hope will have new occasions to go more in depth on each of the subjects touched upon this evening.