SPEECH/11/763
Siim Kallas
Vice-President and Commissioner for Transport
Towards a Single European Transport
Area
Joint hearing: European affairs committee and sustainable
development and regional planning committee
Assemblée Nationale, Paris, 16 November 2011
Messieurs les présidents,
Mesdames, Messieurs les députés,
C'est un honneur d'intervenir devant vous aujourd'hui et de répondre ainsi à
l'invitation de M Lequiller, Président de la commission affaires européennes et M
Grouard, Président de la commission du développement durable et de
l'aménagement du territoire. Je vous remercie de me donner l'opportunité de
m'adresser à vous et de débattre des priorités de la Commission européenne dans
le domaine des transports. En adoptant la feuille de route "pour un espace
européen unique des transports", la Commission présente sa vision pour l'avenir du
système de transport au sein de l'Union européenne. Je vais aujourd'hui vous faire
part de cette vision.
Ladies and Gentlemen, with your permission, I will now switch to English.
Let me explain how I see the future of transport in Europe for the years and
decades to come. As you know, this vision is embodied in our White Paper on
transport, called the "Roadmap towards a Single European Transport Area". It is a
vision to which we hope everyone can subscribe, so that we can help each other
turn it into a reality. I am very grateful for today’s opportunity to speak to you in the
hope that we will be working together towards these shared goals.
In Europe, we rely on efficient transport networks for the economy to stay
competitive and for our internal market to function smoothly. Transport represents
the heart of the supply chain, and, as such, it is a primary enabler of jobs and
growth. Without it, we cannot prosper.
Transport is also one of Europe's few industries that successfully competes on the
world stage – in fact, we are a global leader in this vital sector. Our transport
industry employs around 10 million people, accounting for 4.5% of total employment
in the EU and about the same percentage of GDP. Many European companies are
world leaders in infrastructure, logistics and the manufacture of transport equipment
and traffic management systems. We clearly want to keep it that way. I am pleased
to say that France is right at the forefront of this excellence:
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Take Alstom, blazing a trail in high-speed trains, for example.
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In the automobile sector, Peugeot-Citroen, combined with Renault, manufacture
more than 6 million motor vehicles a year.
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And just a few months ago at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, Airbus swept
the board with a surge of new orders worth many billions of euros to European
business.
In transport services, the list of successes continues: Air France-KLM, SNCF,
Veolia Environment. And let's not forget the pioneering role of France’s local
authorities in developing modern tram systems, making public transport ever more
efficient. But we face many new challenges and barriers which threaten our leading
position and we simply cannot afford to lag behind. Europe risks losing out to global
rivals, above all to low-cost competitors who are keen to innovate and invest.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We know that the demand for mobility will continue to grow in the foreseeable
future. At the same time, parts of our transport infrastructure are starting to creak
with age. In some areas, we are already approaching capacity limits. There are also
a number of important missing links and bottlenecks. That puts a squeeze on trade
flows within our own internal market, to the detriment of the overall economy.
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At the moment, there are a number of barriers which threaten that competitive edge
and prevent us from completing the EU’s internal transport market. Too much red
tape, administrative formalities, numerous ‘missing links’ across the transport
network, like technical incompatibilities on national railways and lengthy
authorisation procedures for rolling stock.
This is why initiatives such as France's “Assises du ferroviaire” are particularly
useful. I would like to welcome it as an opportunity for a national debate on the
necessary reform of the national rail system. The services of the Commission
participate to the discussion. This is recognition of the existence of a European
railway market which must function with common rules.
More broadly, our transport strategy for the future aims to respond to several
longer-term challenges.
Firstly, we need to reduce our historic overdependence on oil, which is likely to
become harder to source in the years to come. The transport sector remains almost
totally oil dependent (96% of its total energy supply), our imports come from
increasingly unstable parts of the world – while markets are more volatile that ever.
This is why we are looking into innovative (and cleaner) alternatives to fossil fuels
and investing in research to develop new sources of energy.
Secondly, our cities, roads, railways and skies are increasingly congested.
Urbanisation will continue and traffic in cities and on their access routes will grow.
Bottlenecks are also present in some ports.
And of course delivering the EU's climate change targets requires deep cuts in CO 2
emissions from transport over the medium term.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We cannot avoid these challenges and we need to act now, to prepare for the
future. Merely to maintain the status quo is not an option, especially if Europe is to
remain competitive in the world marketplace. With transport policy, we are standing
at a crossroads – and this is no time for complacency. What we decide, and do
now, will affect the sector for decades to come.
Technological innovation is crucial for tackling these challenges and we must
promote it strongly. Research and innovation are central to achieve smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth. But let's not forget that research and innovation
are not enough on their own to solve all the problems: efficiency is also about better
logistics and smarter behaviour.
We need to change our travelling habits, better combine or substitute road travel
with other modes such as rail, and optimise choices for passengers. We must start
thinking about transport as a network, as a system, rather than thinking in terms of
individual modes.
Rail and waterborne transport will need to play a substantially greater role in moving
freight, particularly over longer distances. Coaches and high-speed rail will need to
transport more passengers.
It is also important to recognise that there are practices and behaviour which limit
competition and prevent these transport alternatives from becoming more efficient
and appealing to users. This is a situation that we can no longer afford. Closed
markets and protectionist attitudes are relics of the past and definitely not the
answer, if we are to stay competitive.
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There are other ways forward – setting minimum standards and improving
enforcement of the rules, for example – but not blocking competition.
Passenger transport by rail is a good example where there are still many obstacles
to an efficient and competitive European system. A Single European Transport area
also means fair and non-discriminatory access to the rail network and to rail-related
services. I know this is an important issue for France. The first rail package recast
includes provisions to address certain of these problems, but as announced in the
White Paper, we will be bringing forward further proposals on access to the
passenger market, as well as rolling stock certification, next year. We need to make
the rail of the future an attractive alternative to other modes.
Similarly, the Single European Sky must be completed and aviation must be better
integrated with other forms of transport. The Single European Sky alone would
reduce the distance flown and consequently help reducing CO2 emissions of the
sector and allow double traffic at the same cost. Furthermore, integrating and
complementing the modal networks helps better exploiting all the available capacity:
transhipment facilities, port/rail connections, inland waterways links.
So in the future, Europe’s transport system will be relying a great deal on
professional and highly-trained operators. They will play an important role in
providing a high-quality service both in public transport and in logistics. They will
also benefit from a safer and more secure transport environment, using cleaner
vehicles and working within infrastructures less congested than now.
One of the White Paper's top priorities is to complete the trans-European transport
network: TEN-T. This is essential for creating employment and economic growth
because the network aims to provide a seamless chain linking all modes of
transport – air, rail, road and sea. The necessary infrastructure and related
developments will require substantial resources. But the financing itself should also
be 'smart'.
We are looking closely at how innovative instruments can make transport a solid
and attractive opportunity for private capital, particularly for specialised
infrastructure investors. Some of these instruments, like project bonds, should have
a high leverage impact and generate even more funding for some of our larger
transport projects.
Take the funding proposed by the Commission for the next budget period, 2014 to
2020 – the Connecting Europe Facility. This flexible instrument will accelerate
infrastructure development in energy, transport and information technology, helping
to fill in the missing network links to strengthen the backbone of the internal market.
It will offer innovative financing tools for transport projects such as project bonds,
combining market-based instruments and direct EU support to optimise the impact
of financing.
We are also looking at ways to enhance the financial structure of public-private
partnerships, or PPPs, in transport – an area where France is leading the way.
Innovative PPP projects have already been used notably for the cross-border rail
tunnel on the Perpignan–Figueras section or for the future Tours–Bordeaux highspeed rail line. We would like to see more PPPs set up. At the same time, there has
be to a level playing field for such schemes, as well as feasibility assessments to
make sure there is value for money.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
The White Paper shows how we can achieve the transformation of our transport
system and make the vision a reality. The single objective is to reduce CO 2
emissions by 60% by 2050. Let me briefly mention some of the 10 goals that we
have set ourselves, to be achieved by carrying out 40 concrete initiatives to which
the Commission has committed itself. These goals will guide policy and measure
our progress:

phasing out conventionally fuelled cars and trucks from cities by 2050;

shifting 30% of medium and long-distance road freight to other modes by
2030;
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using cars for less than half of middle-distance travel by 2050; or

halving road traffic deaths by 2020 and achieving near-zero casualties in
road transport by 2050.
We will not achieve these goals if citizens are not convinced that they are needed.
Citizens identify their freedom, economic and social, with the ability to move, to
travel, and thereby access new opportunities.
Messieurs les présidents,
Mesdames, Messieurs les députés,
Pour l'Europe, la France prend une place clé dans le domaine des transports:
géographiquement, techniquement et politiquement. L'Europe a une vision
audacieuse du transport, c'est en unissant nos efforts que nous veillerons au mieux
à la poursuite de nos objectifs communs, notamment en terme de modernisation du
système de transport de demain, et que nous assurerons les besoins de nos
citoyens et des compagnies européennes.
Merci de votre attention.
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