European Commission

Commission launched consultation on EU 2020: a new strategy to make the EU a smarter, greener social market

 

In 2001, the Commission issued a White Paper setting an agenda for the European transport policy throughout 2010. This programme was updated in the mid-term review of 2006. Approaching the end of the ten-year period, it is time to look further ahead and prepare the ground for later policy developments. Transport is a complex system that depends on multiple factors, including the pattern of human settlements and consumption, the organisation of production and the availability of infrastructure. Owing to this complexity, any intervention on the transport sector must be based on a long-term vision for the sustainable mobility of people and goods, not least because policies of structural character take long to implement and must be planned well in advance. Transport is an essential component of the European economy. The transport industry at large accounts for about 7% of GDP and for over 5% of total employment in the EU. The European transport policy has contributed to a mobility system that compares well in terms of efficiency and effectiveness with that of the economically most advanced regions of the world. The present Communication summarises the results of this wide reflection. In section 2, it refers to recent developments of the European transport policy and outstanding issues. In section 3, it looks at the future, identifying trends in transport drivers and the likely challenges they could pose to society. In section 4, it proposes some intermediate policy objectives, which could be pursued to address the emerging challenges in the transport sector. In section 5, it describes some available instruments and possible lines of intervention for achieving the stated objectives. The ideas put forward in this Communication are meant to stimulate further debate aimed at identifying policy options, without prejudging the formulation of concrete proposals in the next White Paper of 2010. The Commission encourages all interested parties to contribute to the consultation exercise launched by the present Communication. Views on the future of transport and on possible policy options should be submitted to the mailbox: \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by 30 September 2009. The results of the above mentioned consultations will be presented at a stakeholder conference in autumn 2009. On the basis of the feedback received from stakeholders and from the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission will issue in 2010 a White Paper which will set out the policy measures to be adopted in the next decade 2010-2020. http://www.spcr.cz/cz/eu/279-2009.pdf Vladimíra DrbalováInternational Organisation and EU