T&E Priorities for the 2007 German Presidency of the EU

During the six-months that follow, Germany will have the opportunity to lead European decision-making on several critically important transport policy areas that will have a major impact on the future of the European economy, our environment and our citizens’ health.

Major policy issues on the German transport agenda will primarily focus on the hot topics of energy and climate change, but obviously also other issues will appear. The most important ones that will certainly be presented under the German presidency are:

• the inclusion of the aviation sector into the EU Emissions Trading System;
• the future of Europe’s CO2 policy for cars and vans, now the current voluntary industry commitment is approaching its end;
• the review of the EU Directive on biofuels for transport and the fuel quality directive, which both offer opportunities to lower the climate impact per litre of fuel burnt;
• a proposal for review of the tyre noise directive.

In this short briefing, T&E, a federation of 44 non-governmental organisations working in the field of sustainable transport, presents its demands and recommendations for these four most important transport and environment policy areas covered by the six months of the German presidency.