The road ahead

By Jacques Barrot, Vice President of the European Commission, in charge of transport

In my review of the 2001 White Paper, I suggest broadening the focus and the instruments to meet the new challenges. The main idea is to remain pragmatic. Innovation and intelligent management of traffic flows will optimise transport systems.

“Without adequate infrastructures, there are no interconnected markets”
-Jacques Barrot

The recent mid-term review of the 2001 White Paper aims at increasing Europe’s competitiveness and maintaining know-how, skills and jobs in the EU. It targets the efforts in order to address today’s challenges. Our new approach builds on the continuity of a sustainable mobility policy in Europe taking into account the new context: enlargement, globalisation, energy situation, security, etc.

We need to focus on the main barriers that transport systems are facing in the quest for efficiency: in particular, the lack of infrastructure and the bad use of the existing infrastructure, and the conditions for a fair competition in the transport sector.

We will now provide for the right political impulse to achieve this: ensure fair competition in the internal market, promote infrastructure investments, set the right framework for innovation and intelligent transport, and push logistics as a smart way of making mobility sustainable.

Transport internal market
The legal framework is well established. It is however under review to simplify and optimise its functioning. It is also important to ensure that competition is fair between modes. I have started a wider reflection on the internalisation of external costs in all modes. I expect to present the results of that reflection in 2008.

Infrastructure – TENs
Without adequate infrastructures, there are no interconnected markets. At EU level, the new financial perspectives for the period 2007-2013 provide only a limited increase in the budget available for TENs. In this context, the use of EU funds should be optimised and new types of financial engineering should be developed. At national level, the public financing capacities remain constrained.

The existing infrastructure must be optimised and new infrastructure must link up corridors.

I have introduced co-modality as a new concept. It means that all modes of transport (and infrastructure) should be optimised and we also promote the best collaboration between the modes. I really want to encourage the use of different modes of transport in one single transport operation: goods arrive by sea, they are taken to the hinterland by barge or train and the lorry takes the goods to their final destination.

Logistics
Advanced freight transport logistics is the key to efficient and sustainable mobility. We move towards a society where shippers will have a perfect knowledge of the situation and conditions of their consignments and where the lifecycle of any product will be dominated by logistic considerations.

Freight logistics is an important sector in Europe representing an expenditure of approximately €1,000 billion a year (or 13.3 percent of the GDP). The price of a final product in the shops contains approximately 10-15 percent of logistics costs. Although the development of transport logistics is basically a matter for industry, it is for the public authorities to create a framework in which industrial activity can expand.

Logistics is therefore a priority for the European Commission, since advanced, integrated solutions can help to optimise transport. We are currently carrying out consultations leading towards the framework strategy for freight transport logistics. The consultation process will continue until spring of this year so that everyone who is interested can contribute. I will then present an action plan. This may include:

• Action to remove administrative, operational and functional obstacles to co-modality – Logistics flows need to be seamless but are often hampered by obstacles or bottlenecks. These bottlenecks need to be urgently eliminated. My services are now starting to identify the relevant bottlenecks, together with industry, the social partners and Member States.
• Action to stimulate training and the exchange of best practice – Lifelong learning is essential for people working, at any level, in the logistics field. However, education and training in the field of transport logistics are highly diversified. I plan to look into uniformity and mutual recognition in this field.
• Action to promote standardisation across modes where needed – The rules on the dimensions of vehicles and loading units should match the needs of advanced logistics and sustainable mobility. In this context, common standards are essential.
• Action to develop a clear vision of the added value that information and communications technologies, such as intelligent traffic management, can offer.

Smart I&C technologies
Smart technologies will be essential in all respects, from security to the efficiency of freight movements and organisation of demand and supply chains. In that respect, radio-navigation based on GALILEO and ITS solutions will be very helpful.

GALILEO, the European satellite navigation system with high precision in location, will undoubtedly give a boost to transport innovation. Services should be available as from 2011. In the next years, I foresee that the different technologies such as GALILEO-based systems, mobile communications with on-board driver assistance systems, together with charging systems, will converge. Interoperability is the key word here and European standards will have to assure that.

I will bring forward a Green Paper on GALILEO based applications before the end of the year and I trust that the transport sector will be at the forefront of innovation.

Urban transport
Urban transport deserves particular consideration. Pollutant emissions from motor vehicles impact on air quality, which in many cities does not yet meet EU standards. Around 40 percent of transport related CO2 emissions come from road traffic in urban areas. The energy efficiency of individual motorised transport is particularly low in urban stop-and-go traffic. Congestion is threatening mobility especially in urbanised environments. Traffic safety is also a major concern in cities.

The Commission plans to present a Green Paper on urban transport in 2007. This Green Paper will examine possibilities for joint solutions based upon the measures that have been successfully tested by Europe’s most ambitious cities. For example many cities are now looking at new and innovative ways to address the problems of congestion and pollution from urban transport such as congestion charging schemes, low emission, or “green” zones, the use of alternative fuels, improved public transport but also enhanced logistics for freight deliveries where CLECAT input will be necessary. An open debate should identify how best the EU can make a constructive contribution to action at local level in these areas.

Conclusion
The objective of European transport policy should be economic, social and environmental sustainability and to achieve it, we need an intelligent mobility policy to foster competitiveness and prosperity.

A number of actions mentioned in the White Paper review are underway and will make of the new co-modality an efficient and sustainable reality. These actions involve all modes and combinations of modes managed efficiently by new technologies. We cannot afford any weak link but, instead, we need a strong transport sector able to optimise Europe’s transport system.

In doing this, we will help not only the transport sector, but also the whole European economy, which depends on high quality mobility for its continuing competitiveness.