Informal meeting of the transport ministers

Dominique Bussereau, French Minister of State for transport, has chosen sustainable, safe transport policy as the focus for this informal meeting, which will bring together the transport ministers of the EU’s 27 Member States. The meeting will also be attended by Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Transport; Paolo Costa, the Chairman of the European Parliament Transport Committee; and other major stakeholders, such as business chiefs and elected representatives from civil society. The Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian transport ministers will also be participating in the talks.

On Monday, 1 September, the meeting will first address the EU’s future action plan on urban mobility, which will be drawn up on the basis of the green paper presented in 2007 by Jacques Barrot, former European Commissioner for Transport. Ryszard Grobelny, Mayor of Poznan (Poland), and Michel Destot, Mayor of Grenoble (France) and President of the Group of Authorities with Responsibility for Transport (GART), will talk about their experiences and future projects regarding urban transport. They will also express their expectations with regard to the European Union.

The ministers will then debate the Commission's proposal for amending the ‘Eurovignette’ directive, the purpose of which is to ensure the charges imposed on road haulage take into account its environmental impacts. The La Rochelle talks aim to explain as clearly as possible what is at stake in this amendment, which subscribes to the "polluter pays" principle, but the application of which will have to take account of the economic situation facing European road hauliers.

On Tuesday, 2 September, the meeting will focus on sea freight. The ministers will set out the options for measures being discussed to improve maritime safety along Europe’s coastlines. They will then examine the conditions for developing 'motorways of the sea’. Philippe Louis-Dreyfus, Chairman of the European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA), and Philippe Grillot, Chairman of the Federation of Transport and Logistics Companies of France (TLF), will give feedback on the prospects for road and sea intermodal freight transport.

 

See also Informal meeting of the transport ministers: progress in favour of sustainable transport (Report)

 

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• Updated: 07.01.2009

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