Publications Archive

In its consultation paper the Commission presents a model for infrastructure financing („Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative“): Private or public-private project companies issue bonds on capital markets to finance infrastructure (“project bonds”). Limited payment guarantees or credits provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) are to encourage private investors to buy project bonds.

With the White Paper, the Commission continues the transparent discussion, which was instigated by the Commission itself, on the future of transport. It describes the challenges to European transport policy, teh Commission’s vision for a competitive and sustainable transport system by 2050 and a strategy to implement it. The transport sector is to reduce at least 60% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to emission levels in 1990.

The European institutions have paved the way for a Single European Sky (SES) with two packages of measures in 2004 and 2009. The objectives of the SES are to organise and to control the European airspace more according to actual traffic flows than to national borders; to increase its capacity and to establish an internal market for air navigation services. The cep summarises and analyses the efforts to establish a Single European Sky.

In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty conferred upon the EU competency for space travel (Art. 189 TFEU). Above all, it empowers the EU to take joint initiatives to promote scientific and technical progress and to boost competitiveness in the space industry. In the communication the Commission presents its ideas on how the EU can execute its new competency for space travel.

The Commission wishes to adjust the European Neighbourhood Policy to its transport policy. To this end, it proposes measures to facilitate international goods and passengers transport affecting the EU transport markets and their European neighbours as well as the development of transport infrastructure in the neighbouring EU countries. 

With the Lisbon Treaty the EU acquired new competences in the field of tourism which are anchored in primary law. In its Communication the Commission describes the “challenges” and presents an “action framework for tourism in Europe”. The Commission wishes to make the cultural and natural wealth of Europe better known, for example by introducing a “European Cultural Heritage Seal”. Furthermore, a publicly funded “voluntary” exchange mechanism for tourists is to enable “key groups” such as young people (up to the age of 30) and the elderly (65+) to travel to tourist destinations in other Member States during the low season. Finally, the Commission plans to conduct “awareness-raising campaigns relating to the choice of destinations and the means of transport to promote “sustainable and responsible high-quality tourism”.

The first railway package of 2001 consists of three Directives which form the basis for the European railway legislation. According to the Commission, the present summary and recast version is to remove any insufficiencies, uncertainties and gaps in the regulatory framework. It further encompasses the removal of barriers to competition and the reform of regulatory oversight (1. Part), as well as questions regarding the development and operation of the railway infrastructure (2. Part).Its major aim is to provide for a non-discriminatory competition in the railway traffic market.

Driving times and rest periods in road transport are subject to rules in order to improve road transport safety, improve drivers‘ working conditions and ensure fair competition between road transport companies.  By applying technically modernised “smart” tachgraphs, the Commission wishes to better enforce the rules on driving time and rest periods and reduce the administrative burdens for road transport companies and control authorities.

Airlines can only emit greenhouse gases if they own the corresponding emission rights ("certificates"). Since 2012, all flights have, in principle, been obliged to own certificates for the entire flight distance between two EU airports and flights between an EU airport and an airport in a non-EU country. As the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) has come up against considerable international opposition, the EU resolved that, in 2012, the ETS would only apply to flights between EU airports. The European Commission now proposes that airlines should require certificates for emissions from flights to and from third party countries between 2014 and 2020 in respect of the distance flown over the European Economic Area (EEA).

The EU wishes to establish a “complete and integrated trans-European transport network” (TEN-T) which includes all transport modes and a “dual-layer structure”. To this end, the Commission wishes to enhance coordination in planning and the design of a sound governance structure. TEN-T is to meet the mobility and transport needs within the EU and third countries, guarantee the “accessibility“ of all regions of  the EU and remove bottlenecks in transport.