Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani has said he is personally in favour of a “special fund for transport” to finance investment in the sector. He was talking at a press conference, in Brussels on 20 November, on the future of the Common Transport Policy. This conference also provided an occasion to release the results of a public consultation on the future of transport, which should lead to a new white paper in 2010.

The results of the consultation show that the question of financing is at the heart of people’s concerns. Nobody is denying it: the transition to a low-carbon economy, as the Commission wants, will mean a costly reworking of the current transport system. Where will this money come from? Essentially, as at present, the public sector will provide most of the contributions. The question of internalisation of transport costs (the ‘polluter pays’ principle) does not find unanimous support, with industry and road haulage transporters providing the main opposition. Most states support the principle, however, and have made the most of this consultation to drive home anew that the spending of revenue from internalisation should be left entirely to their discretion. No luck then for the transport sector, which was hoping to reinvest the money themselves.

There is, however, consensus on the fact that there needs to be investments in the infrastructure and that the budget for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) must be increased as a priority for the EU’s financial planning. The TEN-T budget for the period 2007-2913 is €8 billion. The Commission proposed €20 billion.

Among other points, environmental NGOs were calling for the transport sector to adopt CO ₂emissions limits. They suggest putting in place a European exchange mechanism for rights to emissions for all modes of transport. There was also a near-complete consensus on the positive potential of electric vehicles. Many said that political support was needed, especially in terms of fiscal aid. The concept of a ‘green transport corridor’ went down well. At the Brussels conference, the Swedish EU Presidency’s representative, Secretary of State for Communications Leif Zetterberg, said that Europe must “follow up the thinking” on these corridors and promote it with a legislative initiative. A more vigorously supported opening of transport markets, specifically road navigation and rail transport, also received a strongly favourable response, with the exception of the unions.

The Council of Transport Ministers will adopt the conclusions on the future transport policy in December. n

The results of the consultation are available at www.europolitics.info > Search = 261227