News

Concerns after Barrot questions

July 15, 2005

T&E has written to the EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot expressing concern at statements he made last month suggesting that decoupling economic growth from transport growth could endanger the Lisbon strategy on economic competitiveness.

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In a letter following a speech by Barrot to a European Policy Centre discussion on Sustainable Mobility last month, T&E’s director Jos Dings said it would be “highly inappropriate” for the Commission to use a ‘midterm review’ to drop one of the two key transport policy guidelines that heads of government agreed at the Copenhagen summit in 2001 (the other was modal shift).

Dings also said economic science “consistently draws the conclusion that policies to reduce demand for transport do not necessarily have an impact on economic growth, indeed can often help to sustain economic growth”.

Barrot had not yet replied as Bulletin went to press.

This news story is taken from the July 2005 edition of T&E Bulletin.

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