Next event: Commission response to text adopted in plenary 2021/01/27 more...
- Final act published in Official Journal 2020/12/28
- Draft final act 2020/12/23
- Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading 2020/12/23
- Final act signed 2020/12/23
- End of procedure in Parliament 2020/12/23
- Results of vote in Parliament 2020/12/15
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading 2020/12/15
- Debate in Parliament 2020/12/14
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement 2020/11/18
- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations confirmed by plenary (Rule 71) 2020/10/21
- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations announced in plenary (Rule 71) 2020/10/19
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading 2020/10/14
- Vote in committee, 1st reading 2020/10/12
- Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations with report adopted in committee 2020/10/12
- Committee opinion 2020/07/17
- Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report 2020/07/15
- Committee opinion 2020/07/13
- Amendments tabled in committee 2020/07/06
- Committee draft report 2020/06/11
- MICHELS Martina (GUE/NGL) appointed as rapporteur in REGI 2020/05/11
- DEPARNAY-GRUNENBERG Anna (Verts/ALE) appointed as rapporteur in TRAN 2020/05/06
- MELBĀRDE Dace (ECR) appointed as rapporteur in CULT 2020/04/30
Progress: Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | TRAN | DEPARNAY-GRUNENBERG Anna ( Verts/ALE) | THALER Barbara ( EPP), ERTUG Ismail ( S&D), RIQUET Dominique ( Renew), CAMPOMENOSI Marco ( ID), PORĘBA Tomasz Piotr ( ECR), DALY Clare ( GUE/NGL) |
Committee Opinion | ENVI | ||
Committee Opinion | REGI | MICHELS Martina ( GUE/NGL) | Raffaele FITTO ( ECR), Laurence FARRENG ( RE), Alessandro PANZA ( ID), Anna DEPARNAY-GRUNENBERG ( Verts/ALE), Vera TAX ( S&D) |
Committee Opinion | ITRE | ||
Committee Opinion | CULT | MELBĀRDE Dace ( ECR) | Milan ZVER ( PPE), Laurence FARRENG ( RE), Niyazi KIZILYÜREK ( GUE/NGL), Salima YENBOU ( Verts/ALE) |
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
TFEU 091
Legal Basis:
TFEU 091Subjects
Events
The European Parliament adopted by 684 votes to 9, with 2 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Year of Rail.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, amending the Commission proposal as follows:
Objectives
The amended text stressed that despite operational and financial constraints related to the COVID-19 crisis, crucial connections for the transport of both passengers and essential goods have been maintained. Continuity was ensured mainly thanks to the employees who have continued working under difficult and uncertain conditions. The strategic role played by rail during the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted that achieving the single European railway area.
Against this background, the specific objectives of the European Year shall be to:
- promote rail as a sustainable, innovative, interconnected and intermodal, safe and affordable mode of transport, in particular by highlighting the role of rail: (i) as a game changer helping to achieve the EU’s climate neutrality objective by 2050, (ii) as a pillar of an efficient logistic network, capable of guaranteeing essential services, even during unexpected crises, and (iii) as a transport mode that reaches out to the wider public, especially the young;
- highlight the European, cross-border dimension of rail, that brings citizens closer together by ensuring better connectivity within and with its geographical periphery;
- enhance the contribution of rail to the EU’s economy, to its industry, including to its global competitiveness and to improving accessibility for persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility, and in particular paying attention to the needs of elderly people;
- build on rail's power to stimulate the collective imagination, particularly through rail's history and its cultural heritage;
- promote the attractiveness of the railway professions;
- promote an EU night train network;
- create public awareness of rail’s potential role in the development of sustainable tourism in Europe;
- promote the key role of railways in sustainable end-to-end mobility;
- stimulate discussion on how to modernise rolling stock and on how to further develop and increase the capacity of railway infrastructure in order to facilitate the broader use of passenger and freight transport by rail;
- promote events and initiatives to disseminate information on the rights of rail passengers and to stimulate cooperation among all actors in order to improve customer information and ticketing, including the offer of through-tickets and developing innovative digital multi-modal tickets.
Content of the measures
The measures should be closely coordinated with ongoing activities to promote rail transport. These measures should include:
- initiatives and events designed to create a positive image to increase confidence in rail, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, and to promote the attractiveness of rail for the transport of more people and goods;
- initiatives in Member States to encourage work-related travel and home-to-work solutions by rail;
- partnerships and events in areas such as cooperation with European train museums and cultural events (e.g. film festivals and art exhibitions), mobile exhibition trains across the EU, the provision of Interrail passes for young people, in particular under the Erasmus programme;
- the promotion of projects aimed at providing integrated door-to-door transport solutions in combination with other modes of transport.
The Commission should consider initiating, during the European Year:
- a study on the feasibility of creating a European label to promote goods and products transported by rail so as to encourage businesses to switch their transport to rail; and
- a feasibility study with a view to introducing a rail connectivity index and showing the potential of rail to compete with other modes of transport.
For the evaluation of the initiatives, the Commission should establish key performance indicators.
The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Anna DEPARNAY-GRUNENBERG (Greens/EFA, DE) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Year of the Railways (2021).
The committee recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows.
Objectives
Members recalled that, even in European countries virtually paralysed by the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, railways and urban rail systems have continued to ensure the movement of goods and basic services. They expressed their support of the proposal for the ‘European Year of the Rail 2021’ while calling on the Commission to be more ambitious.
In particular, the European Year shall also:
- promote rail as the backbone of sustainable, innovative, intermodal, safe and affordable transport and as an efficient logistic network, capable of guaranteeing essential services, even during unexpected crises;
- promote the role of rail in reaching the Union’s climate neutrality objective as soon as possible and by 2050, including by reaching out to the wider public, especially to people with disabilities and reduced mobility, as well as to youth;
- strengthen rail, including by improving the cross-border cooperation among infrastructure managers to facilitate better rail connectivity across borders, including cross-border charter trains;
- develop and communicate a modal shift in tourism policy as a network that can connect rural areas and can boost, and create public awareness of, a European sustainable tourism;
- contribute to the integration of the Union's internal market, while promoting the completion of the TEN-T, thus putting an end to bottlenecks mainly in cross-border areas, and to make transport more interoperable by offering comprehensive solutions for both passengers and goods;
- support research and innovation in the railway sector, in particular through Shift2Rail, notably with a view to improving the quality of rail services and their decarbonisation;
- strengthen rail transport in agglomerations and suburbs to promote climate-friendly door-to-door transport, including through an easily understandable system of passenger rights promoting social and economic inclusion;
- promoting the existing EU night train network;
- promote the attractiveness of the railway profession, including by encouraging fair conditions of service and protection of employees against abuse;
- highlight the value of trains, railway stations and rail infrastructure as an integral part of the Union's industrial cultural heritage.
Content of the measures
The measures to be taken to achieve the objectives shall include initiatives to:
- emphasise the essential role of rail in ‘door-to-door’ transport and encourage work-to-work and home-to-work solutions by rail;
- develop through-ticketing and digital multi-modal tickets;
- promote investment in terminals and rolling stock as an optimal modal shift option that will contribute to the decarbonisation of freight transport;
- improving digitisation, in particular for the provision of real-time information about fares and timetables;
- promoting a modal shift in tourism;
- ensure that EU funding for recovery efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are used to massively expand and improve Europe's rail infrastructure.
With a view to identifying areas where investment in rail infrastructure is particularly needed, the Commission is invited to examine the possibility of creating a rail connectivity index to assess the consistency, quality and diversity of the offer as well as its accessibility and intermodal options to measure the integration of the network.
Members also introduced an annex setting out a non-exhaustive list of events to be organised during the Year of the Rail, supported by various partnerships according to their scope.
Budget
Members proposed that the financial envelope for the implementation of the Decision for the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022 shall be EUR 16 million. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.
PURPOSE: to designate 2021 as the ‘European Year of Rail’.
PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: in its Communication of 11 December 2019, the Commission set out a European Green Deal for the European Union and its citizens. In its resolution of 15 January 2020, the European Parliament welcomed this deal and called for the necessary transition to a climate-neutral society by 2050 at the latest.
Transport accounts for a quarter of the Union’s greenhouse gas emissions, and still growing. To achieve climate neutrality, a 90% reduction in transport emissions is needed by 2050.
The European Green Deal implies to accelerate the shift to sustainable and smart mobility to address these challenges. In particular, a substantial part of the 75% of inland freight carried today by road should shift onto rail and inland waterways. While the share of passenger rail in the Union land transport has only slightly increased since 2007, the share of freight has decreased.
Rail has a significant role to play as a game changer to achieve the climate neutrality objective by 2050. It is one of the most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient transport modes. It is the only mode that has consistently reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and CO2 emissions since 1990 and increasingly uses renewable energy sources.
2021 shall be an important year for the Union rail policy:
- it will be the first full year where the rules agreed under the Fourth Railway Package will be implemented throughout the Union, namely on the opening of the market of domestic passenger services and on reducing costs and administrative burden for railway undertakings operating across the Union;
- there is a growing public interest in railways, including in night trains, in a number of Member States, as also illustrated by the popularity of #DiscoverEU;
- the international arts festival ‘Europalia’ will dedicate its 2021 edition to the influence of railways on the arts and highlight the role of rail as a powerful promotor of social, economic and industrial change.
CONTENT: the proposal aims to designate 2021 as the ‘European Year of Rail’ and responds to the objective of promoting rail transport in line with the objectives set out in the Commission's communication on the European Green Deal.
Objectives
The objective of the European Year shall be to encourage and support the efforts of the Union, the Member States, regional and local authorities, and other organisations to increase the share of passengers and freight moving by rail. In particular, the European Year shall:
- promote rail as a sustainable, innovative and safe mode of transport, in particular by highlighting the role of rail as a game changer to help reaching the Union’s climate neutrality objective by 2050 and by reaching out to the wider public, especially youth;
- highlight the European, cross-border dimension of rail, that brings citizens closer together, allows them to explore the Union in all its diversity, fosters cohesion and contributes to integrate the Union internal market;
- enhance the contribution of rail to Union economy, industry and society, covering in particular aspects related to regional development, industrial competitiveness, sustainable tourism, innovation, employment, education, youth and culture, and improving accessibility for persons with disabilities;
- contribute to promoting rail as an important element of the relations between the Union and neighbouring countries, in particular, in the Western Balkans.
Content of the measures
As with all European Years in the past, the main objective is to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities and highlight the role of the Union in promoting shared solutions. Measures shall include information and promotion campaigns, events, projects and initiatives at Union, national, regional and local levels. They shall serve to convey key messages and disseminate information about examples of good practice.
The European Year shall be an opportunity to encourage Member States authorities and the sector to work together to promote rail transport. Every effort shall be made to ensure that the activities organised in the course of the European Year are tailored to meet the needs and circumstances of each Member State. Member States are therefore requested to appoint a national coordinator responsible for organising their participation in the European Year of Rail. A European steering group, including representatives of the national coordinators, shall be set up.
The Commission shall convene meetings of the national coordinators in order to coordinate the running of the European Year and to exchange information regarding its implementation at national and EU level.
Budgetary implications
The necessary financial allocation for the implementation of this Decision for the period 2020-2021 is estimated to be EUR 8 million. Implementation of the European Year will involve appropriate funding to be determined in the context of the budgetary procedures for 2020, and 2021 in accordance with the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027.
Documents
- Commission response to text adopted in plenary: SP(2021)34
- Final act published in Official Journal: Decision 2020/2228
- Final act published in Official Journal: OJ L 437 28.12.2020, p. 0108
- Draft final act: 00048/2020/LEX
- Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading: T9-0345/2020
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement: GEDA/A/(2020)007014
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A9-0191/2020
- Committee opinion: PE650.707
- Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report: CES2360/2020
- Committee opinion: PE652.352
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE654.016
- Committee draft report: PE652.338
- Legislative proposal: COM(2020)0078
- Legislative proposal: EUR-Lex
- Legislative proposal: COM(2020)0078 EUR-Lex
- Committee draft report: PE652.338
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE654.016
- Committee opinion: PE652.352
- Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report: CES2360/2020
- Committee opinion: PE650.707
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement: GEDA/A/(2020)007014
- Draft final act: 00048/2020/LEX
- Commission response to text adopted in plenary: SP(2021)34
Activities
- Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Angelo CIOCCA
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- Jakop G. DALUNDE
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- Angel DZHAMBAZKI
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- Marian-Jean MARINESCU
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- Clare DALY
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- José Ramón BAUZÁ DÍAZ
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- Marcel KOLAJA
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- Maximilian KRAH
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- Benoît LUTGEN
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- Johan DANIELSSON
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- Julie LECHANTEUX
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- Dace MELBĀRDE
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- Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ
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- Anna DEPARNAY-GRUNENBERG
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- Petar VITANOV
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- Vera TAX
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- Dorien ROOKMAKER
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