European Transport Policy - Progress and Prospects

CER
October 2009

The next five years will be decisive for the future of transport in Europe. In spring 2009, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso acknowledged that tackling greenhouse gas emissions from transport must become a top priority in the next legislative period. The EU will have to come up with concrete policies to reduce carbon emissions of the sector by focusing on fair pricing and technological change, a new communication on a sustainable future for transport affi rmed in June 2009.

Much is at stake. The European Commission has started preparing a new white paper on the future of transport that will be published in 2010 and will aim for a substantial reduction of emissions from the sector. But have the lessons been learnt from the last white paper, which in 2001 urged it was “time to decide”? Competition within the rail sector, an effective charging policy for all modes and the removal of infrastructure bottlenecks were identifi ed and are still seen as the three key pillars to revitalise the railways and make transport more sustainable.

In 2004, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) asked the renowned Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds to provide a first independent review of the progress that had been made. The report then concluded that, although substantial developments had taken place in several areas, amongst others paving the way for an open and competitive rail freight market, overall progress had been rather disappointing.

A full legislative period has passed since this review with important initiatives in- and outside the transport sector. Most strikingly we saw the adoption of ambitious EU environmental goals to prevent climate change, while greenhouse gas emissions from transport have continued to rise. The objective of modal shift towards more environmentally friendly rail transport has not been met consistently: many railways face severe fi nancial problems and as a result lose market share to polluting road hauliers. The problems have recently been reinforced by the global economic crisis. So what remains from the vision of the last white paper? What has been the impact of European transport policy initiated and accomplished in the last ten years?

To answer this we have again invited Professor Chris Nash and his team from the ITS to carry out a second assessment of progress regarding the Commission’s white paper of 2001 and its mid-term review of 2006. The fi ndings of his research are intended to inform and inspire the European institutions at the beginning of this new legislative period. Coming from a throrough analysis of past policy, the authors suggest how EU policy should develop over the next few years: most urgently they identify the need to make transport policy more consistent with the EU’s energy and climate policy.

We strongly support this objective and look forward to discussing this challenge with all European institutions and other stakeholders in the coming years!

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