Transport U-turn puts roads back in favour

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 06/04/06

The European Commission is planning a change in its transport policy that would no longer discourage investment in Europe's roads and would reduce the emphasis on shifting road traffic onto railways and waterways.

The final draft of a mid-term review of the EU's current nine-year transport action plan is still being discussed within the Commission's various departments and will not be published officially until mid-May.

But sources say that the EU executive plans to water down two of the main targets in the 2001 White Paper that set out the action plan, namely to 'decouple' transport growth from economic growth and so-called modal shift - to invest more in other modes of transport such as rail and water.

Decoupling involves discouraging politicians from investing heavily in transport in the expectation that it would encourage economic growth. They were urged instead to promote an effective charging system to pay for the cost of infrastructure, for environmental damage and for the modal shift.

A Commission spokes-man told European Voice that the current draft of the mid-term review still emphasised the importance of the modal shift and in particular investing in inland waterways.

But a senior official added: "We have had several meetings with stakeholders and several of them raised the issues of decoupling and modal shift. We have tried to take into consideration the concerns expressed, without significantly changing the key issues in the White Paper."

He said that the concerns expressed could have an impact on policy decisions in the future. "They are based on the practical experience of the last few years and we have to evaluate the significance of that," he said.

This could mean that future EU projects, which at the moment concentrate on modernising and expanding Europe's rail infrastructure, are re-directed to projects aimed at solving the problems faced on its roads.

Transport commissioner Jacques Barrot has already said that investment in transport should not be restrained when growth is low and he has emphasised the importance of roads, which are still the most popular choice of transport and where companies and governments are happiest to invest.

Olivier Lenz, from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, said that he would welcome a "more realistic policy".

"There are much better ways of resolving problems of congestion and air pollution than modal shift, which is costly and inefficient," he said. "The car industry is committed to cutting air pollution, and if we invest in a safer road infrastructure and the various means of reducing congestion then roads will become much more sustainable."

But Johannes Ludewig, executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies said that it would be a mistake to change course.

"At this halfway point the achievements in rail have been substantial," he said. "Market share in rail has stabilised in western Europe, and rail still has a lot of potential for freight transport over long journeys. Everyone agrees that there is not one mode of transport that can solve Europe's problems and if a strategy is successful then it should continue."

The environmental campaign group Transport and Environment also expressed concern about a change in policy.

"Decoupling must rem-ain central to European transport policy," said a spokesman. "We need to think about transport in the same way as we think about energy and strive to do more with less."

He added that decoupling would not harm economic growth, citing the example of the congestion charge in London which had had a neutral effect on the city's economy but reduced the use of private cars by 35%.

Article anticipates the adoption by the European Commission of a mid-term review of its 2001 White Paper on the European transport policy, the document that set out policy priorities until 2010. Author reports that the Commission was planning a change in its transport policy that would no longer discourage investment in Europe's roads and would reduce the emphasis on shifting road traffic onto railways and waterways.

European Commission: DG Energy and Transport: Transport: White Paper on Transport Policy: Preparatory work for the Mid-term review 2005/06 http://ec.europa.eu/comm/transport/white_paper/mid_term_revision/index_en.htm

---