Rome wasn’t built in a day: Letta offers no quick fixes for transport

7 months ago 34

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Brussels was abuzz last week discussing Enrico Letta’s report on the future of the European single market.

The former Italian Prime Minister travelled the continent when researching the report, so perhaps it was no surprise that transport got a special mention.

Letta noted that rail, “the quintessential green mode of transportation,” should have been his natural choice as he shuttled across Europe. But citing a lack of connections between Europe’s cities, he instead concluded that this was “impossible” and “unlikely to change in the near future.”

Fortunately Letta has not given up on Europe’s transport sector — he argues that its strategic development is “indispensable for the (…) transition towards a green economy” and key to enabling a thriving and socially cohesive single market.

All music to the ears of Europe’s transport sector. But how to transform his visionary words into an everyday reality?

For Letta, it’s all about integration: physical, legal, administrative, and technical.

Physically, Europe’s transport networks need to properly connect to each other. Think linking railways to inland waterway ports, or better EU routes to Ukraine and Moldova.

Legally, Letta wants to set European performance standards for countries’ airspace, so flights across the continent can chart more efficient and sustainable routes.

Administratively, Letta lamented the lack of harmonised reporting and customs procedures for maritime freight.

Technically, he wants Europe’s rail system to share common signaling, IT, and other equipment – which means speeding up the implementation of the European Rail Traffic Management System.

Letta’s policy suggestions for a greener and seamlessly integrated pan-European transport network are nothing new. For decades, legislators and policy nerds in Brussels have been either calling for or delivering many of Letta’s suggestions.

Some — like the Trans-European Transport Network Regulation — are being voted on this week.

Still, as the cliché goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is particularly so in transport, where large price tags, national interests, and deep technical complexity conspire to slow down even the most ardent advocates of deeper European integration.

But Letta’s report might just breathe new life into tired topics.

If Letta’s schlep across Europe helps put the sector higher up the agenda of the next Parliament and Commission, then he will have played his part in the long, grinding march to deliver a seamless European transport network.

[Olivia Gyapong and Donagh Cagney]

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