Tag: transport white paper

Europe's transport chief called for a shift away from fossil fuels on Monday (28 March) to cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect the economy from oil price spikes, but critics said his strategy lacked meaningful action.

The Commission set out a ten-year strategy on sustainability in the transport sector in its 2001 White Paper on Transport Policy. The strategy focused predominantly on balancing the different modes of transport, harmonising legislation within specific sectors, and enhancing transport safety. But, in an enlarged EU, under pressure from accelerating globalisation, high oil prices and transport-targeted terrorist attacks, the EU is looking to adapt its initial strategy.

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot calls on Europeans to embrace reform of the transport sector in an article he wrote for the tri-annual publication, Europe’s world.

Short-Sea-Shipping remains a key area for dealing with Europe’s traffic congestion and environmental problems. 

The Commission's updated Europe’s transport policy seeks to improve citizens’ mobility and boost competitiveness, while keeping down energy consumption and reducing the negative impacts on the environment.

As much as 20% of Europe's GDP is supported by road transport, according to a new study by the European Union Road Federation which rejects the Commission's 2001 idea of operating a 'modal shift' to rail.

High oil prices are only one new aspect in the debate over Europe's future transport policy. Current weak economic growth will feature high in the review of the 2001 White Paper on transport which has just started.

The Finn rally driver and MEP has launched a methodical attack on EU plans to promote alternatives to road transport for being too costly, inefficient and disconnected from reality.

Europe's grand project to make transport sustainable in the long run is simply being abandoned, warns the Parliament's transport committee vice-president Gilles Savary in an interview (in French) with EurActiv.

On 12 February 2003, the Parliament adopted a report by Juan de Dios Izquierdo Collado (PES,E) calling for significant changes to the Commission's 2001 White Paper.

On the 5 April, following the end of the consultation process on the Commission's White paper on Governance, the United States mission to the European Union issued a position paper summarising the position of its government

The White Paper on Transport is facing a wave of criticism from industry federations and NGO's over pricing and sustainability. The European employers' association UNICE believes that a disproportionate part of the White Paper is dealing with the influence of price on transport. The European Federation for Transport and Environment finds that the White Paper fails to fully address demands for sustainability.