THE INTERNAL POLICIES OF

1

• THE INTERNAL POLICIES OF
• THE EUROPEAN UNION
• EU Transport Policy
• Prof. D-r Jovan Pejkovski

2

• Transport is one of the Community's earliest
  common policies.
• Since the Treaty of Rome entered into force in
  1958, transport policy has focused on removing
  obstacles at the borders between Member States so
  as to facilitate the free movement of persons and
  goods.
• To that end its prime objectives are the
  completion of the internal market for transport,
  ensuring sustainable development, the deployment
  of major networks in Europe, spatial management,
  improving safety and the development of
  international cooperation.

3

• Open frontiers and affordable transport have
  given Europeans unprecedented levels of personal
  mobility.
• Goods are shipped rapidly and efficiently from
  factory to customer, often in different
  countries.
• The European Union has contributed by opening
  national markets to competition and by removing
  physical and technical barriers to free movement.
  
• But todays transport patterns and growth rates
  are unsustainable.

4

• The ability to move people and goods quickly,
  efficiently and cheaply is a central tenet of the
  EUs goal for a dynamic economy and cohesive
  society.
• The transport sector generates 10 of EU wealth
  measured by gross domestic product (GDP),
  equivalent to about one trillion euro a year.
• It provides more than ten million jobs.

5

• The removal of barriers to cross-border trade and
  travel has increased the volume of long-distance
  goods and passenger transport.
• This phenomenon is being repeated in the wake of
  the 2004 EU enlargement with significant
  increases, particularly of road freight, between
  the new members and the rest of the Union. 

6

• The transport industry also occupies an important
  position in the European Union (EU), accounting
  for 7 of its gross national product (GNP), 7 of
  all jobs, 40 of Member States' investment and
  30 of Community energy consumption.
• Demand, particularly in intra-Community traffic,
  has grown more or less constantly for the last 20
  years, by 2.3 a year for goods and 3.1 for
  passengers.

7

• The constant growth in mobility puts severe
  strains on transport systems.
• The result is congestion. According to the
  European Commission, daily traffic jams affect
  10, or 7,500 kilometres, of the EUs trunk road
  (motorway) network, while 20 of the rail network
  (16,000 kilometres) are classified as
  bottlenecks.
• At 16 of the Unions main airports, 30 of
  flights are delayed for more than 15 minutes.
  Congestion on roads and at airports increases
  pollution, adding an estimated 6 to EU fuel
  consumption.

8

• Transport and energy are at the heart of European
  policies and have a considerable impact on the
  everyday life of citizens.
• There can be no unified area without these
  bridges between countries and people, and the
  removal of barriers between Member States has
  facilitated the free movement of persons and
  goods.

9

• Transport policy, plans for which began in 1957,
  is aimed at sustainable mobility combining
  Europes competitiveness with the welfare of its
  citizens, making for greater safety and security
  and enhanced rights.
• It is an essential component of the Lisbon
  strategy and contributes to the EUs social and
  territorial cohesion.

10

• Although many aspects of transport policy come
  under national governments, it makes sense for
  the European single market to have a single
  transport infrastructure.
• In the last ten years, the EU has opened national
  transport markets across the Union to
  competition, particularly in the road and air
  sectors and, to a lesser extent, for rail.

11

• As a result, trucks can operate in countries
  other than their own, so that they no longer
  return empty on international journeys.
• The liberalisation of air travel has brought more
  competition and lower fares as well as more
  connections between member states.
• In March 2003, a first package of measures to
  liberalise rail infrastructure took effect,
  opening about 70-80 of rail freight traffic over
  main lines to competition.

12

• The EU also promotes major transport
  infrastructure projects, the so-called
  Trans-European Networks (TENs). Among the
  priority TENs projects are 
• the removal of bottlenecks on the main east-west
  inland waterway linking the Rhine, Main and
  Danube 
• a programme to regulate traffic on the busy
  shipping lanes off the EU coasts
• several north-south and east-west rail upgrades.

13

• In addition to the development of Community
  transport and energy policies, including dealing
  with State aid, the DG is responsible for
  managing the financial support programmes for the
  trans-European networks, technological
  development and innovation, totalling on average
  1 billion per annum for the period 2000-2006.

14

• But the liberalisation of transport has taken
  various constraints into account
• a social constraint, so that the freedom to
  provide services does not result in the strictest
  national legislation being bypassed.

15

• Liberalisation of services has therefore been
  accompanied by harmonisation of social
  conditions, of the rules governing the provision
  of services and of qualifications
• an economic constraint, so that investment in
  infrastructure is not exploited by transport
  undertakings which play no part in their
  financing this is of particular concern to the
  road transport sector.

16

• Measures should also be taken to make sure that
  the way rail transport is organised does not
  perpetuate the current fragmented state of this
  form of transport
• a route-guarantee constraint, so that the
  introduction of new factors of competition does
  not put in doubt the continuity of transport
  links between peripheral (island) and central
  (mainland) areas.

17

• The last White Paper on transport policy
  constitutes a genuine action plan aimed at
  improving the quality and efficiency of European
  transport.
• The ultimate objective is to shift the balance
  between the various modes of transport by 2010
  through an active policy to revitalise the
  railways, promote transport by sea and inland
  waterway and develop intermodality.

18
ROAD TRANSPORTCarriage of goods by road

• As from 1 January 1993, a haulier established in
  a Member State of the Community may freely
  transport goods to another Member State.
• Whereas, until this date, such an operation would
  require special authorisation in application of
  bilateral agreements or Community quotas, from
  that date on, the right to conduct this business
  is based on quality conditions, which transport
  operators must observe and which entitle them to
  receive a Community transport licence.

19

• However, such transnational activity must not
  result in serious disruption to the transport
  market and, for that reason, the Council has
  introduced a surveillance system offering a
  safeguard mechanism against market disruption.
• In a single market a haulage operator should also
  be able to carry out transport in another Member
  State (cabotage ).
• This natural progression has given rise to fears
  of distortion of competition and, for that
  reason, the system of cabotage has been
  introduced gradually since 1 July 1990 in the
  form of progressive Community quotas and was due
  to come into force on 1 July 1998.

20

• Carriage of passengers by roadThough passenger
  services from one Member State to another were
  relatively free of constraints, the Community
  legislation made no provision for operators from
  one Member State to provide transport services in
  another Member State.
• To apply the principle of the freedom to provide
  transport services, and following the Court of
  Justice's annulment of Regulation (EEC) 2454/92,
  the Council has adopted a new Regulation on
  cabotage .

21

• This Regulation defines the various types of
  passenger transport for which cabotage is
  possible and announces the liberalisation of
  special and occasional regular services and other
  regular services in June 1999.
• To harmonise the conditions of competition for
  the carriage of goods and passengers by road,
  since the 1970s the Community has also taken a
  series of measures to harmonise the conditions
  for admission to the occupation of national and
  international road haulage operator and to allow
  effective freedom of establishment for such
  operators.

22
Road safety

• Ever greater mobility comes at a high price each
  year accidents cause 40 000 deaths and 1 700 000
  injuries on the roads.
• The direct and indirect cost has been estimated
  at EUR 160 billion, i.e. 2 of the EU's GNP.
• In order to improve road safety the Community has
  adopted a new action programme for road safety
  (2003-2010).

23

• At the same time the European Road Safety Charter
  aims to promote more effective measures for
  reducing road accidents in Europe.
• The target is, by 2010, to reduce the number of
  fatalities by 50.

24
RAIL TRANSPORT

• For almost thirty years there has been a worrying
  decline in rail transport in Europe, particularly
  as regards freight.
• In 1970 almost 21 of goods in the EU were
  transported by rail.
• By 2000 the figure was 8.1.
• The main reason for this state of affairs is that
  the railways are not as competitive as road
  haulage.

25

• The EU wishes to make it easier for the
  Community's railways to adapt to the demands of
  the single market and to make them more
  efficient.
• To help achieve this, it has proposed introducing
  an operating licence to provide uniform access to
  infrastructure and has established a system for
  ensuring that infrastructure capacity is
  allocated on a non-discriminatory basis and that
  users pay the full real cost of the facilities
  they use.

26

• In its White Paper of July 1996 the Commission
  set out a strategy to revitalise the Community's
  railways, notably by rationalising their
  financial situation, ensuring freedom of access
  to all traffic and public services and promoting
  the integration of national systems and social
  aspects.
• In 2001, the "infrastructure package" was
  presented with the aim of opening up rail freight
  markets, by establishing a framework for the
  conditions of access to national networks for
  rail companies.

27

• In 2002, the Commission proposed a new package of
  measures aimed at revitalising the railways
  through the rapid construction of an integrated
  railway area in Europe.
• Finally, in 2004, the Commission adopted its
  third railway package aimed at continuing the
  reform in the rail sector by opening up
  international passenger transport services within
  the EU to competition, strengthening
  international passengers' rights, establishing a
  certification system for locomotive drivers and
  improving the quality of rail freight services.

28
MARITIME TRANSPORT

• More than 90 of the EU's external trade and some
  43 of its internal trade is transported by sea
  in total, over 1 billion tonnes of freight are
  loaded and unloaded at European ports each year.
• International maritime transport is, by
  definition, a liberalised activity. If it were
  not, nobody would benefit from the role this mode
  of transport plays in international trade.

29

• However, it is only since 1 January 1993 that
  cabotage by sea has started to be phased in, as
  agreed in 1992.
• The introduction of cabotage and the need for the
  Community to help improve the conditions for
  international maritime transport have resulted in
  the adoption of measures relating to competition
  policy, to the prevention of unfair pricing
  practices, to standards for ships engaged in the
  transport of dangerous goods and to working
  conditions .

30

• The conditions governing admission to the
  occupation have also been defined.
• In its communication of 13 March 1996, approved
  by the Council on 13 December of the same year,
  the Commission reiterated the three priorities in
  the development of maritime policies
• safety,
• maintenance of open markets and
• enhanced competitiveness.

31
Safety at sea

• On the question of maritime safety, the sinking
  of the ERIKA in December 1999, followed by the
  PRESTIGE in November 2002, prompted new measures
  in the process of establishing European policy on
  maritime safety, aimed in particular at the
  environmental risks caused by oil tankers.

32

• Two series of legislative proposals have been put
  forward by the Commission, Erika I (March 2000)
  and Erika II (December 2000), whose objectives
  are to improve safety on ships and protect the
  environment.
• The measures proposed cover the following more
  rigorous inspections in ports, ban on single hull
  tankers, establishment of a Community monitoring
  , inspection and information system for maritime
  traffic, establishment of a compensation fund for
  oil pollution damage, and the setting up of a
  European Maritime Safety Agency

33
INLAND WATERWAYS

• Inland waterways play an important part in the
  transport of goods in Europe.
• Over 35 000 km of waterways link hundred of towns
  and areas of industrial concentration.
• Since 1 January 1993, inland waterway transport
  has also benefited from the liberalisation of
  cabotage , the main effect of which has been the
  end of the rota system which prevented companies
  employing these services from having a free
  choice of carrier.

34
AIR TRANSPORT

• Of all modes of transport, air transport is by
  far the one that has grown the most in the EU
  over the last twenty years.
• However, the boom in air transport is
  exacerbating the problems of airport saturation
  and air traffic control system overload.

35

• The Community policy on liberalising air
  transport covers four main areas
• market access,
• capacity control,
• fares and
• the issue of operating licences for companies.
• It was launched in 1980 and has been implemented
  in three stages, with Stage 3, the third air
  transport package, coming into force on 1 January
  1993. A transitional period was laid down for air
  cabotage, which became reality only on 1 April
  1997.

36

• The cornerstones of this process are
• the introduction of a single air transport
  licence issued to air transport undertakings
  established in the Community
• conditions for access to routes within the
  Community for air carriers
• passenger fares including ways for the Commission
  to intervene directly in case of unfair pricing
  (predatory practices)
• freight services.

37

• As liberalisation leads to the creation of a
  genuine single market for air transport, the
  Community has harmonised many rules and
  Regulations to create a level playing field for
  all airlines.
• In particular it has laid down technical
  standards and administrative procedures for
  fixing common standards for the airworthiness of
  aircraft, and has legislated on the mutual
  recognition of licences for people working in the
  civil aviation industry, allowing pilots to be
  recruited directly from any Member State.

38

• The Community has also laid down the procedures
  for applying competition rules to air carriers
  and to various types of agreement and concerted
  practice.
• Lastly, it has adopted a Directive on access to
  the airport ground services market.

39
The single European sky

• The Commission has adopted a set of proposals on
  air traffic management aimed at creating a '
  single European sky '.
• The single European sky is an ambitious
  initiative to reform the way European air traffic
  control is structured with a view to meeting
  future capacity and safety requirements.

40

• Todays air traffic network confines commercial
  aircraft to specific corridors that avoid
  military air space.
• The result is that aircraft are often forced to
  take the long way round to reach their
  destination, or to queue up to use the corridors.
  
• The single European sky proposals are based on
  the concept of free-route air space, allocating
  routes on the basis of free capacity and not
  according to civilmilitary usage.

41

• This will reduce journey times by allowing
  operators to select optimal routes, both in space
  and in time.
• One beneficiary will be the area, covering
  southern England, the Benelux countries and
  France, where two thirds of all air traffic
  delays in the European Union occur.

42

• This package sets out the objectives and the
  operating principles based on six lines of
  action
• joint management of airspace,
• establishment of a strong Community regulator,
• gradual integration of civil and military
  management,
• institutional synergy between the EU and
  Eurocontrol ,
• introduction of appropriate modern technology and
  
• better coordination of human resources policy in
  the air traffic control sector.

43

• As regards passengers' rights, the new
  legislation which entered into force in 2005
  increases the amount of compensation that
  airlines must pay passengers if they are refused
  boarding.
• It also gives new compensation and assistance
  rights to passengers whose flights are cancelled
  or severely delayed.

44
Trans-European networks

• In December 1992 the Commission presented a White
  Paper on the "Future development of the common
  transport policy", in which it undertook to
  promote
• trans-European transport networks (TENs), by
  encouraging links between the Member States'
  networks (interconnection) and
• national network interoperability, while at the
  same time taking account of environmental
  constraints.

45

• The European Commission has drawn up a new list
  of thirty priority projects which should start
  before 2010 and whose total estimated cost is EUR
  225 billion.
• The list establishes more sustainable mobility
  plans by concentrating investment in rail and
  waterway transport.

46
SATELLITE NAVIGATION

• Galileo is a satellite radio navigation system
  launched by the EU and the European Space Agency
  (ESA).
• The programme is based on a constellation of
  thirty satellites and a network of earth stations
  enabling positioning information to be supplied
  to users in various sectors, such as transport
  (vehicle location, route finding, speed control,
  etc.), social services (assistance for disabled
  and elderly persons), justice and customs (border
  controls) and public works.

47
INTERMODAL TRANSPORT

• The Marco Polo Programme is a financial
  instrument aimed at
• reducing congestion on the road network,
• improving the environmental performance of the
  transport system and
• boosting intermodal transport, thereby
  contributing to a more efficient and sustainable
  transport system.

48

• The Programme supports commercial measures which
  result in a shift in the freight services market
  from road haulage to more environmentally
  friendly forms of transport.

49
INFRASTRUCTURE CHARGING

• The main aim of the Commission policy on
  infrastructure charging is that, for every mode
  of transport, taxes and fees must be variable so
  as to reflect the cost of different pollution
  levels, travelling times, damage and
  infrastructure costs.

50

• It is important to apply the "polluter pays"
  principle and to provide clear fiscal incentives
  to contribute
• to achieving the targets for reducing traffic
  jams,
• fighting pollution,
• redressing the balance between the different
  modes of transport and
• removing the link between transport growth and
  economic growth.

51

• The latest Commission initiative concerning
  transport infrastructure charging is a proposal
  for a Directive amending the " Eurovignette "
  Directive on the charging of heavy goods vehicles
  for the use of certain infrastructures.

52

• Liberalisation alone has not been able to solve
  several deep-seated problems.
• Besides congestion, these include the dominance
  of road over other forms of transport, pollution,
  and the fragmentation of transport systems,
  including poor links to outlying regions or the
  lack of good connections between regional or
  national networks.

53

• Road haulage now carries 44 of all goods
  transported in the EU, against 41 for short-sea
  shipping routes, 8 for rail and 4 for inland
  waterways.
• The imbalance is more marked for passenger
  transport where road (largely car journeys)
  accounts for 79 against rails 6 and 5 for
  air.
• Shifting goods and passengers from roads to less
  polluting forms of transport will be a key factor
  in any sustainable transport policy.
• Another will be the ability to integrate
  different modes of transport by combining
  road-rail, sea-rail or rail-air elements.

54

• An average of 112 people die on EU roads every
  day more than 40 000 a year. The human and
  economic costs are unacceptable. In purely
  economic terms, road accidents cost the EU 2  of
  its GDP every year.
• The European Commission has set a target of
  halving the number of road deaths by 2010. It
  wants EU countries to do this by harmonising
  penalties for speeding or drunk driving, by
  better signposting and further improving vehicle
  safety standards.

55
Not much harmony right now

• When driving from Cologne to London, a motorist
  can still encounter stretches of German autobahn
  without a speed limit. When crossing Belgium,
  there is a general limit of 120 kph, which rises
  to 130 kph in France, then falls to 112 kph in
  England.
• While in England, our motorist can
  drink-and-drive up to a blood alcohol level of
  0.8 mg, but on the way home in France, Belgium or
  Germany, he cannot exceed a limit of 0.5 mg.

56

• There is, for instance, no single European air
  traffic control system but rather 26
  sub-systems with 58 en route control centres.
• This is three times as many as for a comparable
  area in the United States.
• National rail networks are in general poorly
  interconnected with each other, with different
  technical standards and signalling systems.

57

• Combined journeys, using more than one mode of
  transport roadrail or railair and so on are
  underutilised.
• The cost of building and maintaining transport
  infrastructures is not always adequately covered
  by the amounts that users pay to use them.
• This argument is frequently heard in the case of
  road transport.

58

• In a 2001 White Paper on transport, the
  Commission set goals for each sector, some of
  which are already being implemented.
• For instance, the Council of ministers reached
  agreement in June 2004 to increase the compulsory
  rest periods for drivers of heavy trucks from
  eight to nine hours and to limit their total
  driving time per week to 56 hours.

59

• This is part of a wider safety programme to cut
  road deaths, currently more than 40,000 a year,
  by half by 2010.
• Other White Paper targets seek to
• reverse the decline in rails share of passenger
  and freight transport. A freight train in the EU
  travels at an average speed of 18 kilometres per
  hour. Rail must improve speeds and service levels
  if it is to attract freight traffic from roads.

60

• reduce flight delays by creating an integrated
  European air traffic control structure.
• invest more in maritime and inland waterways.
• Improve port services and maritime safety
  standards.
• mix modes to offer greater efficiency, less
  congestion, lower costs and cleaner air.
• Introduce integrated ticketing and baggage
  handling for dual mode journeys.

61
Conclusions

• Transport is a key factor in modern economies.
• But there is a permanent contradictionbetween
  society, which demands ever more mobility, and
  public opinion, which is becoming increasingly
  intolerant of chronic delays and the poor quality
  of some transport services.
• As demand for transport keeps increasing, the
  Community's answer cannot be just to build new
  infrastructure and open up markets.

62

• The transport system needs to be optimised to
  meet the demands of enlargement and sustainable
  development, as set out in the conclusions of the
  Gothenburg European Council.
• A modern transport system must be sustainable
  from an economic and social as well as an
  environmental viewpoint.
• Plans for the future of the transport sector must
  take account of its economic importance.

63

• Total expenditure runs to some 1 000 billion
  euros, which is more than 10 of gross domestic
  product.
• The sector employs more than ten million people.
• It involves infrastructure and technologies whose
  cost to society is such that there must be no
  errors of judgment.

64

• Indeed, it is because of the scale of investment
  in transport and its determining role in economic
  growth that the authors of the Treaty of Rome
  made provision for a common transport policy with
  its own specific rules.

65
Managing change

• Three things are clear about the future of EU
  transport policy
• The problems are many and have been identified.
• The solutions are also evident, but difficult to
  apply.
• A global approach is required, involving all
  players local, national and European.

66

• The entry of 10 new countries presents a
  challenge and an opportunity.
• To eliminate major bottlenecks at their borders
  with the rest of the EU will require an
  investment of EUR 90 billion by 2015, according
  to the European Commission.
• Although transport systems in central and
  eastern Europe have traditionally favoured rail
  over road, this trend has been reversed as these
  countries embraced market-based economies, with
  rail freight rapidly migrating to roads.

67

• Rail currently accounts for 40  of all freight
  traffic in the new Member States.
• By targeting investment, the Commission seeks to
  maintain that share at 35  in 2010.

68

• Transport policy in Europe is at a crossroads.
• The future depends on
• using road transport rationally,
• switching from road to rail (and water) and
• from air to rail without losing competitiveness,
  efficiency, speed or comfort,
• making more journeys that involve a mix of
  different modes, and
• reducing transport-related pollution.

69

• Transport can meet the requirements of
  sustainable development only under certain
  conditions.
• There must be
• political will and determination to solve the
  problems together
• a new approach to urban transport which provides
  scope for a rational use of private cars
• improvements in service quality to offset the
  rising cost of mobility

70

• an adequate way to finance infrastructure and
  eliminate bottlenecks
• coherence between the EUs transport policy and
  other key policies, such as economic and
  environmental, fiscal, social and budgetary
  policies, and
• town-and-country planning.

71
TIME TO DECIDE

• A large number of political measures and
  instruments will be needed to launch theprocess
  which, over the next 30 years, will lead to the
  kind of sustainable transportsystem we might
  hope to achieve.
• The measures advocated in the White Paper are
  merely the first stages of a longer-term strategy.

72

• However, the common transport policy alone will
  not provide all the answers.
• It must be part of an overall strategy
  integrating sustainable development, to include
• economic policy and changes in the production
  process that influence demand for transport
• land-use planning policy and in particular town
  planning we must avoid any unnecessary increase
  in mobility needs caused by unbalanced urban
  planning

73

• social and education policy, through
  organisation of working patterns and
  schoolhours
• urban transport policy at local level and
  especially in large cities
• budgetary and fiscal policy, to link the
  internalisation of external, and especially
  environmental, costs with completion of the
  trans-European network

74

• competition policy, to ensure, in line with the
  objective of high-quality publicservices, and
  particularly in the rail sector, that the
  opening-up of the market is nothampered by the
  dominant companies already present on the
  market research policy for transport in
  Europe, to bring greater consistency to the
  variousresearch efforts at Community, national
  and private level, in line with the conceptof
  the European research area.