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Archive for December, 2014

New European Commissioners – New Commitments

The new European Commissioners revealed their objectives and commitments during the scrutiny hearings held in the European Parliament shortly before their formal appointment.  A concise overview of their plans and interests is emphasised in this article with a highlight on transport related topics. All the newcomers have pledged for transparency in their mandate and enhanced liaisons with all the other European Institutions.  Intensive collaboration between the EC and the Member States is foreseen with an emphasis on the fact that a more rigorous applicability of the rules and better law making are expected.  The EC “must be ready to launch infringement proceedings and move more quickly to a referral to the Court if a Member State continues to fail to comply with EU law”, as the First Vice-President, Frans Timmermansand the Vice-President and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini have explained.   It will be interesting to see how that runs with the actions foreshadowed between the EC and the States over what is claimed to be incomplete compliance with the FAB obligations. Juncker’s team is to be devoted to increasing competitiveness in Europe, consequently strengthening the influence of the Single Markets and prioritising job growth, research and innovation.  Genuine fairness with regard to gender and geographical balance are amongst the general accepted priorities by all the Commissioners together with a clear rejection of the social dumping phenomena. Violeta  Bul?, the Commissioner for Transport is fully committed to sustaining a competitive and inclusive transport market.  The issue of a relatively low number of female workers in the field of transportation will be addressed and high importance will be given on finding the right solutions in ensuring high quality of jobs.  The current lack of skill labour brings forward the need to make transport an attractive field, especially for young people.  Fairness in social conditions and in the internal market is highlighted as essential by Commissioner Bul?, who has also shown her dismissive approach to social dumping and who mentioned that social legislation needs to be part of the review and development in the area of transport as well. That is all well and good, but it is not clear how that will run with, for instance, the Commission’s support for Norwegian International, the object of theanti-social dumping set’s ire.  The precedents for merely preserving the status quo, and highly paid, highly protected jobs is clear for all to see, and risks setting this sort of commentary up for a major embarrassment down the road. Investment The hotly debated Investment Plan proposed by Juncker has great allies amid the new Commissioners who seem to notice a great opportunity for growth and sustainable markets through its applicability.  In this context, the Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen, has mentioned the prospect to leverage the EU budget in order to get profit in all Single Markets. Commissioner Bul? considers that the €300 billion investment will address financing needs and will support the immediate creation of jobs, while focusing on environmental aspects but draws the attention that the already available instruments from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) should and will be fully exploited in the meantime. It is worth noting that the first spend of that money will go to the Deployment Manager for the deployment of the first tranche of upgrades for the Single European Sky project – announced on 5 December.  That, like the fund generally, will depend on contributions from industry to be a success. The Environment Environmental concerns are core subjects for many of the new Commissioners and the Commissioner for Climate Action and energy has made it very clear that the upshot is to have a safe environment.  This brings us to a clear logical conclusion: more innovation is needed and a more competitive market is expected as a consequence. Integration A gradual transformation of the entire transport system towards a better integration between modes, greater exploitation of the non-road alternatives, improved management of traffic flows through intelligent transport systems is foreseen as well.Accordingly, the transport system plans to fully integrate its stakeholders (cities, large companies, SMEs, new start-ups public transport providers and Member States) in the process of transport innovation.  Non-motorised forms of transport such as walking or cycling will be promoted and alternative fuels will be integrated on the market and the cut of the Greenhouse emissions will become a priority.  An appropriate framework for a more comprehensive multimodal travel project will be supported as well.  The legislative area will be fine grained as well, as it is expected to enable a legislation fir for purpose that will be rightfully implemented by the Member States and respected by them all. A single integrated Europe One of the top priorities in the field of transport is occupied by the completion of the Single European Transport Area. Significant efforts will go towards the rapid adoption of the Single European Sky initiative, through an active cooperation with the European Parliament and with the Council.  The gaps and shortcoming of the passenger’s rights will be evaluated, while integrated journey planners and ticketing services will be promoted. Safety Commissioner Bul? has loudly expressed her commitment to maintain the high level of safety and security that characterises the EU transport system.  High support will be given to enabling optimal connectivity across Europe, in an integrated conceptual system; TEN-T will be transformed in a reality.  The transport sector will take an innovative approach in leveraging EU funds allocated for the modernisation of EU infrastructure, as innovation is seen as a crucial factor in the current situation of the transport area, a  ‘technology push’ being necessary to find good alternatives for diverse problems.  Implementation of the new technologies in the transport area is anticipated, with Intelligent Transport Systems playing a major role with smart vehicles and infrastructure. The ambitious plans should slowly turn into actions.  Commissioner Bul? is pledging for integrity, impartiality, availability and transparency in all professional actions with equal treatment offered to all the European institutions.  Hence we intend to keep an eye on how the whole structure imagined by Commissioner Bul? will slowly get a more comprehensible shape.  Ultimately if she is able to actually walk on fire we surely expect her to be quite spectacular.  

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