15/9/2007
Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Transport: Sustainable transport policy in Europe, Estonian Parliament, Economic Affairs Committee and European Affairs Committee. Tallinn, 10 September 2007

Honourable Members,

It is a great honour for me to address you today as the Commissioner for transport.

I am a Member of the European Commission together with my friend Siim Kallas and Commissioners from the other 25 member States of the European Union.

For most of the forty years of my political career in France, I have held myself a mandate as member of the French Parliament.

I believe that the dialogue with the elected representatives of citizens is essential for anyone exercising a political responsibility. This is true for national and European politics!

Brussels is not the faraway ivory tower that some pretend!

As the Commissioner for transport, I am responsible for organising transport flows throughout Europe. How could I do that without listening to those most concerned?

Obviously, there are no one size fits all solutions.

Transport needs and priorities in a centrally located country like Luxemburg or Belgium are different from that of a country on the periphery like Finland or Estonia. Also, a country bordering the sea like Estonia has other opportunities than a country namely consisting of mountains such as Austria.

My role is find solutions that allow for the free circulation of goods and persons throughout Europe. Mobility is a citizen right!

Of course I could give you a classical presentation about transport policy, based on the four transport modes: aviation, road, rail and maritime.

But I rather prefer to you the vision and rationale behind my policy for sustainable European mobility. Mobility in Europe should have the adequate infrastructures and it should be safe, sustainable and intelligent.

Mobility requires infrastructures

There is no mobility without infrastructures.

Infrastructures are costly. Europe can contribute financially to some extent, but it takes the courage of the national politicians to plan and implement a strategy.

I very warmly welcome the Estonia's commitment for taking the transeuropean rail baltica project one step further to reality in July. This project is highly symbolic because it will constitute a north south link that will link the people of Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland eventually with a high speed train. The corridor will also serve growing freight demands resulting from continued economic growth in your countries.

Mobility should be safe

Estonia has a small population density and often short distances. Road transport therefore will continue to play an important role. Unfortunately today, Estonia's track record for road safety is still below Community average with a death toll of 152 fatalities per million inhabitants. Upgrading of road infrastructure will contribute considerably to avoiding such fatalities.

Reducing the number of deaths on the roads is a top priority for me. Member States experience shows that a determined policy, such as in Sweden for example (49 fatalities per million) can make a difference. Europe has set itself the ambitious target of halving the number of deaths on European roads by 2010. This is not an issue for the regulator – this is an issue that requires the determination of us all.

Mobility should be sustainable

In 2005, transport was responsible for 26,5% (twenty six point 5 per cent) of green house gas emissions in the EU.

There is no doubt that the transport sector will also have to contribute to reducing green house gas emissions, just as all other sectors of economy.

There is no miracle solution. We need cleaner motors and cleaner fuels. But we also must optimise our transport flows. 30% of trucks running empty is a waste of money and resources.

Of course it is up to industry to innovate: on engines, on fuels and on logistics.

But the European legislator must create a level playing field by defining standards.

Successive EURO standards for trucks and cars have brought down harmful emissions from vehicles in a spectacular way: 28 times less for cars and 18 times less for trucks since 1993. We will pursue this avenue.

I strongly believe in a future for biofuels in Europe. They will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time strengthen our energy independence. But we still have a long way to go. In 2005 biofuels accounted for only 1.5% of the diesel market and 0.6% of the petrol market in Europe. Compare this to Brazil, where the market share of biofuels is 11%!

We need common standards for biofuels, engines that take biofuels, and clear rules for tax incentives.

But standards and research are not the only levers at our disposal to promote clean fuels and clean engines.

Let me cite the example of our recent proposal for emission trading for aviation. Emission trading schemes are based on market logic. They reward investment into research and innovation.

Mobility should be intelligent

We must also encourage smart mobility that chooses the most efficient transport mode for a given journey. As I said before, having 30% of trucks running empty in Europe is a waste. 1% of GDP is squandered in congestion. Why should a truck carry goods from Lisbon to Tallinn, if a ship can do the same, using a fraction of the energy per tonne/kilometre?

This is why I have launched the new concept of co-modality. Co-modality means

Optimizing each mode of transport (road, rail, maritime and aviation) including urban transport
Developing links between them: intermodal platforms, efficient logistics, e-freight, high-performing hinterland connections for ports.
The Commission has developed an Action Plan on logistics and a Green Paper on urban transport which I will present in the coming weeks.

The Commission is also promoting combined transport through the Marco Polo programme in which it would be good to have more involvement from the Estonian companies.

Another priority is the modernization of Europe’s port infrastructures and the development of "Motorways of the Sea". The Motorway of the Baltic Sea, which will link Estonia with Member States in Nordic and Western Europe, is an example of this.

A better management of transport flows requires both better information on these flows and effective management tools. Today we have several technologies enabling us to monitor goods and vehicle flows: satellite radio-navigation, radiofrequency identification, microwaves. But the data collected by these different systems are not always interoperable. We need to manage and share such information through European tools.

Again, we already have some concrete examples where Europe has provided the critical mass for innovation in the different transport modes:

Rail: The deployment of the European system for the management of the rail traffic (ERTMS). This has been developed and supported within the Community framework programmes for research and the trans-European transport networks (TENs-T) funds. It represents a considerable advance for the development of interoperability and the safety of networks. After a long test phase, development and validation, new lines equipped with this system are multiplying (the Lötschberg tunnel in Switzerland, the Betuwe line in the Netherlands and the eastern TGV in France).
Maritime: SAFESEANET makes it possible to track ships and their cargoes along European coasts. Today we are considering upgrading the system by building in a long-distance ship detection module.

Aviation: SESAR: is intended to modernize air traffic control over Europe by 2013. It will optimize the use of air corridors, thereby avoiding unnecessary congestion over airports. It will streamline flight routes and avoid delays which increase CO2 emissions and noise.

GALILEO: This project lies at the heart of intelligent mobility. Satellite radionavigation services will revolutionize the way our economies function. Some estimates claim that the global market could be worth up to 450 billion € by 2020. Europe cannot afford to lag behind and to depend on American, Russian or Chinese signals and services.

Mobility must also be ensured between Europe and its trading partners

In a globalised economy it is not sufficient to focus on the European continent alone. European transport policy must also make sure that our companies can access foreign markets at ease and that products from third countries can be transported to Europe. It is in the common interest of the 27 Member States to address such issues together.

For example, by joining forces we could recently obtain an EU–US open sky agreement, that allows for all air carriers from Europe to fly the US on the same condition.

Another example is our permanent transport dialogue with Russia. The next meeting is scheduled for November. For example at last years meeting Mr Levitin and I agreed to create a special working group of Commission, member states and Russian experts to examine the problem and make recommendations. The Group, produced its recommendations in June, such as a reduction in border bureaucracy, are already being discussed with the Russian authorities within the different working groups of the permanent transport dialogue and within the working group of the Commission and Russians customs services.

In conclusion

By taking some concrete examples, I hope I have been able to show you that sustainable mobility remains central to the European Union's competitiveness.

Europe is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of popular support and political commitment in the fight against climate change. Green innovation can put us in the lead and give our industries a competitive edge.

Thank you for your attention.