Nowadays, we always heard about clean energy and digitalisation, and they are also key arguments for the modernisation of European mobility and transport. In fact, the European Commission is taking into consideration these themes, inside the programme “Europe on the Move”, for a socially fair transition and to maintain the sector competitive.
The programme includes various measures, which aim to:
1. Make traffic safer; 2. Boost smart road charging; 3. Decrease CO2 emissions, air pollution and congestion; 4. Reduce bureaucracy for businesses; 5. Avoid illicit employment and fight against black-labour market; 6. Ensure proper conditions and rest times for workers.
These actions will not affect only the mobility and transportation sector, but also other areas, such as supporting growth and jobs, reinforcing social fairness, expanding consumers’ choices and driving Europe towards zero emissions energies. This last goal is likely to be one of the most important, because the claim “zero emissions” regards every scarps of our life. It refers to a product, a service or an activity, which does not produce CO2 and greenhouse gases, and consequently it does not contribute to the climate change (one of the gravest challenge, that human kind is facing).
The term “zero emissions” may concern technologies or renewable energies sources, which are able to create energy without using polluting fossil sources.The transport system is changing with force, and Europe’s view is clear: this change represents an opportunity to innovate the sector (and not only it), and Europe will have not only to be a part of the arrangement, but it will be the orchestra leader.
Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, reiterated that the Europe’s approach to mobility is wider than the transport sector, and new developments in transport regards also the context of newly emerging economic trades like collaborative or circular economy. He added that this is an enormous opportunity to innovate the European economy through a more sustainable system.The European reforms will completely transform the sector and the bases will concern standardised, digital road solutions, fairer social conditions and enforceable market rules. In this way, there should be reductions in the costs of transport, time lost in queue, car accidents, road fatalities and injuries, pollution and noise, without subtracting human facilitations.The mobility sector is extremely relevant on the daily European lives and it employs directly more than 11 million people. Nowadays, it is hit, continuously faster, by technological, economic and social permutations and Europe has to take advantage of these transformations.
In order to achieve the object of a smart, socially fair and competitive mobility, European Commission has launched a long-term strategy, which ends in 2025. This strategy includes targeted legislation and supporting measures, among which infrastructure investment, research and innovation.In support of this, there is a legislative set, composed by 8 proposals, specialised on the business area of “road transport”, so as to improve the function of the road transport market and workers’ social and employment conditions. This area is very important for the labour market, because it employs directly 5 million of Europeans, but it is also considerable in the field of pollution, because it produces almost a 1/5 of the entire European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions. To reach the goals, it is needed to increase enforcement, defeat illicit employment and black labour-market, reduce red-tape for companies and bring more clearness to current rules.Another Commission’s commitment concerns the promotion of new mobility solutions, to facilitate European citizens and businesses to travel across the continent. One example of this simplification consists in the ability to work together among tolling systems, in order to avoid that road users have to worry about the different administrative formalities, when they are moving throughout the European Union.
The proposals framework is not completed yet, it will be enhanced over the next year. Surely, it will involve emissions standards for cars and vans and the first emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles. These initiatives will play a key role in one of the challenging competition, but also greatest opportunity, that Europe is called to deal with. They will conduct to innovation, competitiveness, reduction of CO2 emissions, improving of air quality and public health and rise of the safety of transport.
The future of the Europe in the mobility and transport sector depend on them.
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