The EU’s roadmap for transport

Civitas, 30 March 2011

The EU’s single market is epitomised by its adherence to the four freedoms, as set down in the Single European Act: the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. Vital for the successful realisation of these four principles is the EU’s transport policy. Yet this area is under increasing pressure to modernise and evolve to meet consumer needs and the challenges of the future. This week, the European Commission published its white paper on transport. The paper sets out the Commission’s plans to meet climate change goals, reform an industry with a cumbersome overreliance on fossil fuels, and to improve and standardise transport links between the 27 member states. Unveiling the paper, Siim Kallas, EU Commissioner for Transport, emphasised its vital importance: ‘The choices we make today will determine the shape of transport in 2050.’

The EU’s roadmap for transport focuses on the EU’s vision for a competitive and sustainable transport system as part of the single market and how it is to achieve this through research, innovation and new regulation. The four key targets developed are: growing transport and supporting mobility while reaching the emission targets (a reduction of 60% on 1990 carbon emission levels by 2050); an efficient core multimodal network for intercity travel and transport; a global level-playing field for long-distance travel and intercontinental freight and clean urban transport and commuting.

Amalgamating the growing need for transport with strict climate change targets is one of the biggest challenges facing the Commission. The white paper suggests that by 2050 ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars should be phased out from cities, 40% of fuels in aviation should be low-carbon sustainable fuels, and more than 50% of freight that currently travels by road should be transported by sea or rail.

With proposals for the construction of a high-speed rail network to facilitate the ‘majority of medium-distance passenger transport’ by 2050, the paper acknowledges that ‘[c]urbing mobility is not an option’. Nonetheless, balancing the boom of the aviation industry and the desire of European citizens to travel with the necessity of reducing emissions will inevitably be problematic. Indeed, air traffic has been predicted to double by 2020.

However, while the emphasis rests on both cutting the EU’s reliance on fossil fuels and simultaneously improving mobility and transport links by 2050, a number of green groups have pointed to the lack of time frame for implementing these goals. Greenpeace criticised the paper for leaving the responsibility of change to future generations, and automobile manufacturers have also been quick to slam the paper as short-sighted and ‘arbitrary’ regarding the future of their industry.

Whatever your view on the paper, it is hard to deny that European transport is at a crossroads. As the paper states, ‘[o]ld challenges remain but new have come’. There are strong arguments for reducing the current reliance on oil, with its environmental effects and fluctuating prices, and there are excellent reasons for improving intercity links and revamping rail networks. It’s also promising to see safety and security featuring; the paper envisages that road fatalities should be near zero by 2050.

While the paper has the potential to be an engine for real change in the future of transport, the Commission has, as of yet, presented a mere chassis of a strategy. The test will be whether these laudable intentions develop with real potential or break down at the first hurdle.