Wallström and Kinnock to go ‘unorthodox’ for mobility week

Date: 11/09/03

By Karen Carstens

MARGOT Wallström will get to work on Tuesday (16 September) in several 'unorthodox' ways to highlight environmentally friendly and socially sound modes of transport.

Along with fellow commissioner Neil Kinnock, the EU environment chief will start the second annual European Mobility Week, which runs to22 September.

Traffic permitting, they will launch the initiative at 9.30 am in the foyer of the European Commission's Charlemagne building, in Brussels' Rue de la Loi.

Home to the EU executive's external relations staff, it will be one of five Commission buildings to host interactive "road shows" featuring different themes that will rotate during the course of the week.

They aim to raise awareness of accessibility for the handicapped - a key theme of the event in the European Year of Disabled Persons - as well as urban noise pollution and air quality issues and their effects on human health.

"Today almost 40% of the transport sector's CO2 emissions are produced by private cars in cities," says Wallström.

"A switch to more efficient and cleaner forms of transport - public transport, bicycles, walking - would contribute to a reduction of traffic congestion, air pollution, traffic-related diseases and noise."

This requires "an active involvement at local level and a change in behaviour of citizens," she adds, although cities are often understandably cautious in pushing for such a "transport revolution", which inevitably includes "restrictive and - at first glance - unpopular transport policies".

Commission President Romano Prodi, in an open letter on Tuesday (9 September), urged all Commission staff to take sustainable mobility seriously.

Staffed by health and transport specialists, the 'mobility week' booths will allow anyone entering the buildings to undergo a two-minute lung capacity test or have a chat about car pooling in the capital of Europe. Also on offer will be tips on cycling and quick stretching and posture exercises.

"This is an internal thing aimed at our own employees," says one DG Environment official involved in coordinating the event, dubbed the 'Smartmoves' campaign.

The idea is to practice what the Commission preaches: "We want to show that the Commission isn't just paying lip-service to some kind of policy. We are genuinely trying to promote it within our own house." A colleague adds that the Commission has 20,000 employees and 10,000 parking spaces.

"That's like a small town," she says, adding that DG Environment staffers will be scouring Commission car parks and leaving reprimanding leaflets behind on "every car we can find" on Car Free Day, an international movement held in more than 1,400 cities in 38 countries every 22 September. "I'm sure we're going to get some criticism for what we're doing, but we're doing it for fun and not for scientific reasons."

One way to get Commission staff to have fun will be the 'Smart Moves Challenge', an intra-service competition based on electronic surveys that can be filled out on the mobility week website. The survey will ask people how they get to work, and whichever DG has the most sustainable commuters wins.

Brussels has opted to do its own Car Free Day on 21 September. During last year's mobility week, 320 cities in 21 countries participated, according to the Commission.

European Commissioners are to travel to work using varying modes of transport during European Mobility Week to highlight environmentally friendly modes of transport.

http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org/ http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org/

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