Sustainability, safety and innovation are the three watchwords used by Etienne Schouppe, Belgium’s state secretary for mobility, to describe the transport priorities of the Belgian EU Council Presidency in the latter half of 2010. He was addressing the European Affairs Committee of the Belgian Senate, on 1 March. There is one certainty: the Eurovignette will come back to centre stage after being left on the sidelines by the Swedish and Spanish EU Presidencies. The Belgians will aim for agreement on this highly sensitive issue to allow states to put in place road charging systems that incorporate the external costs of road transport of freight. The internalisation of costs “is a key element of sustainable management of mobility,” said Schouppe. He nonetheless first mentioned innovation as the “principal instrument” for achieving sustainable transport.

Belgium will also work on making a reality of the action plan on urban mobility, presented last September by the European Commission. It intends to put the accent – although the state secretary did not say what he meant by “put the accent” – on bicycles and walking, and on the role of inland waterway navigation. Maritime transport, specifically short sea shipping, will also be a priority. An informal Council on short sea shipping will be held, on 15 and 16 September, in the port city of Antwerp. It will also review inland waterway navigation. Schouppe said he would continue to chair the Council’s work on maritime matters during the future Hungarian EU Presidency (first half of 2011).

Belgium will of course take forward the two major projects of the transport white paper and the action programme for road safety, which will cover the years 2011-2020. Yet those expecting it to lead the debate on the introduction at EU level of the giant trucks known as gigaliners are in for a disappointment. Schouppe is prepared to authorise tests in the Belgian regions that may be interested, but “I am not going to risk raising the issue at European level when we haven’t come to agreement in Belgium,” he said, adding that “a lot of water will flow to the sea before we come to an agreement”.

“A key element of sustainable management of mobility”

Key dates

- 15-16 September:Informal Transport Council, Antwerp

- 15 October: Transport Council, Luxembourg

- 1 December: Transport Council, Brussels