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Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport

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Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport

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Portfolio for Critical Geography of the EU
University of Eastern Finland
Spring 2017

Risser Alexandre 283978
Otto Kantanen 255246
Viljami Viskari 277557
Elina Turpeinen 242529
Flora Dausque 283921
Emmi Runila 242495
Riina Kuusinen 285378

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1. What is the main task of the DG? How is that carried out?

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1. What is the main task of the DG? How is that carried out?

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Otto Kantanen 255246

The Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) is responsible for developing and carrying out the Commission's policies in the field of transportation. It used to be combined with energy as the DG of Transportation and Energy, but this was split on 17.2.2010 mostly because there needs to be as many DGs as member states. Its primary mission statement is to ensure that the transport policies are designed for the benefit of all sectors of society, and out of the Commission's 10 political priorities it's most directly involved with jobs, growth and investment, the digital single market, energy union and climate, the internal market, and migration.

The primary tools of DB MOVE are drafting legislative proposals for the Commission to present to the Parliament and managing the distribution of state aid dossiers where they can do the most good. It also manages the Connecting European Facility funding programme and similar Union-wide projects to facilitate movement between member states. Many of the DG's suborganizations are involved in other tasks such a coordination, consultation, and overseeing of transportation related matter in the Union.

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2. Who is in charge of the DG? Who do they report to? How well do they do their job?

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2. Who is in charge of the DG? Who do they report to? How well do they do their job?

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Flora Dausque.

All the European organs are in charge of the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport. They work together in a democratic context but they do not have the same power.

*   The European Commission:

It is the executive branch among the European institutions, because it is the European Commission which proposes new texts of law, manages the European policy, and allocates the European financing.  With the agreement of the parliament and of the European council, they pass draft bills.  This is the organisation chart of the department of Transport and Mobility within the European Commission.
(Image 1)
Some of them are responsible for specific sectors such as the European Maritime Safety Agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency, the European Union agency for Railways, the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency, and the last one is the Single European Sky Air traffic management.

* The European Parliament:

The European Parliament has a legislative power and it is responsible for the adoption of the legislation, of the budget related to the Transport and Mobility’s policy of the European Union.  It has the right to examine all the European Institutions and to be opposed to them. There is a branch in the parliament specialised in the domain:  the Commission for transports, and tourism.  There are 750 European deputies whose 101 are members of this Commission.

* The European Union council:

The European Union council is the other legislative organ of the European Union.  Within this organisation, there is a branch called: Transports, Telecommunications and Energy, where all the ministers of transport of the European Union meet four times during the year. They commit applying on the points agreed at the meetings in their government.

* European Economic and Social Committee/  European Committee of regions:

The two institutions are consultative boards and express the opinion of the civil society (EESC) and of the local and regional governments (CoR)  in order to respond to the general interest. Both of these institutions have sections consecrated to the DG: Transports, energy,  infrastructures and the information society (TEN, 132 members from different nationalities of the European Union) and it is the Commission of the territorial cohesion’s policy which has to coordinate the action of the Committee in the domain of Transports and mobility (118 members).

*European Investment Bank:
This institution’s aims are to contribute to the realisation of the European Union’s objectives by financing some investment projects.  One of their objectives is to extend the trans-European transport network in order to increase the possibility of exchanges, to promote an economic development and to reinforce the competitiveness.  The intervention of the Bank is an added-value to the infrastructure projects of transport, because it mobilises the co-financing according to the time of the construction.

* Common enterprises:

For example: - Clean Sky 2 is the largest European research programme developing innovative cutting-edge technology aimed at reducing CO2, gas emissions and noise levels produced by aircraft. It is a Public-Private Partnership, with the European Commission and Europe’s aeronautics industry.

-  SESAR is another mechanism which coordinates and concentrates all EU research and development activities in ATM (Air traffic management).  Today, SESAR unites around 3,000 experts in Europe and beyond.

Thanks to the policy led by the European Union, the Directorate General for Transport and Mobility has record considerable progresses for 20 years

Better choice for means of transport for private individual or companies.

Less pollution

Technical advances, favouring cleaner transports.

Amelioration in working hours for the workers in the sector.

An increased safety in the aviation, maritime and railway transports.

https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/transport_fr
https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/transport_fr
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/fr/TRAN/home.html
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/fr/council-eu/configurations/tte/
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/index_en
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/organisation-chart-move_en_0.pdf (image 1).
http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.fr.ten-section
http://cor.europa.eu/fr/activities/commissions/Pages/cor-commissions.aspx?comm=COTER
http://www.eib.org/projects/sectors/tens/index.htm?f=search&media=search&lang=fr
http://www.cleansky.eu/
http://www.sesarju.eu/

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4. What have been the main challenges facing the DG? Is it succesful in meeting those challenges? 

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4. What have been the main challenges facing the DG? Is it succesful in meeting those challenges? 

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Viljami Viskari 277557

The biggest challenge concerning this department has to be pollution and its effect on climate change and the health of citizens, especially in the last few years. Today, most people live in urban areas, in which mobility is very important due to practical reasons. This has huge impact on the living conditions and the progression of pollution. The department has made sustainable transport its number one priority: to “work towards a form of mobility that is sustainable, energy-efficient, and respectful of the environment”. (European Commission, “Sustainable Energy”) This does not only mean that the use of transportation is being reduced, but to make it more efficient and safe to the environment through technical innovations and emphasizing the most environment-friendly ways of mobility.

The department has taken action very efficiently towards several ways of transport: strategies regarding maritime-, air-, urban-, clean-, and the future of transport have all been started and are being constantly developed.  The strategy for decarbonisation (low-emission mobility), for example, has a few main elements: it is “increasing the efficiency of the transport system”, encouraging the shift to lower emission transportation through technology and pricing for instance. This strategy is also “speeding up the deployment of low-emission alternative energy for transport”, which has influence on the use of electricity in transportation. The last main element is the act of “moving towards zero-emission vehicles”. Even if the existing state of the technology is not developed enough, Europe really has to move towards the use of these type of vehicles. (European Commission, “Commission publishes Strategy for low-emission mobility”)

The department has succeeded in making new regulations and strategies enhancing road-, air-, rail-, and maritime transportation. These strategies require investment from all parties: the government, the DG, and the citizens. Improvement has happened, for example in Malmö and Brussels (the winners of sustainable mobility awards 2017). Malmö has promoted active travelling by offering bikes and restricting the use of cars in certain sections of the city, thus attracting more cyclists and locals. Brussels, on the other hand, made smart strategies regarding freight transportation, integrating it with other mobility in the urban city. They also reduced the distance the transportation vehicles took, making the city less noisy, and reducing the emissions.

Another big interest to the department is making transportation safer by making new regulations, for example banning airlines that do not pass the safety regulations. At the moment, there are 193 airlines from 18 countries that are banned from flying (European Commission, “10 years of EU Air Safety List – achievements and room for improvements"). This list has an enormous influence on the safety of all people travelling by plane.

The effect of the road safety regulations shows in statistics as well. The 2016 statistics released on the 28th of March this year show that there are fewer and fewer road accidents annually, from 2001 to 2016. This has been made possible by the Road Transport Strategy for Europe and the overall work done by this Directionare General, Mobility ad Transport.

(If the picture is not seen above, please visit the link below and look at the results there)

(https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/news/road_safety_encouraging_results_in_2016_en, accessed 6.5)

References:

European Commission, “Sustainable transport”, http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/sustainable_en, accessed 6.5.2017

European Commission, “Commission publishes Strategy for low-emission mobility”, 20.7.2016, https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/strategies/news/2016-07-20-decarbonisation_en, accessed 6.5.2017

European Commission, “Malmö and Brussels receive sustainable mobility awards”, 20.03.2017, https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/news/2017-03-20-malm%C3%B6-and-brussels-receive-sustainable-mobility-awards_en, accessed 6.5.2017

European Commission, “10 years of EY Air Safety List – achievements and room for improvements, 16.03.2017, https://ec.europa.eu/transport/media/highlights/news/2017-03-16-10-years-eu-air-safety-list-achievements-and-room-improvements_en, accessed 6.5

European Commission, “Road Safety: Encouraging results in 2016 call for continued efforts to save lives of EU roads, 28.03.2017, https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/news/road_safety_encouraging_results_in_2016_en, accessed 6.5

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5. What problems has the DG needed to address? Succesfully?

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5. What problems has the DG needed to address? Succesfully?

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Emmi Runila 242495

Directorate-General of mobility and transport has some rather big problems that it needs to address. Most of them are connected with traffic, and both travelling and transportation are growing rapidly. Some of the biggest problems are congestion, dependency on oil, greenhouse gas discharges, unequal infrastructure in different EU countries, and growing competition in traffic world markets. Directorate-General is also facing constant, general problems such as safety of traffic in different areas, respiratory organ diseases, and harmful noise cause by traffic, and making mobility and transport more environmentally friendly. The aim of EU's mobility and transport policy is to help traffic answer to these challenges.

Mobility and transport in EU area have become much more secure during the past years. EU has, for example, tightened up regulations in maritime safety, and gives funding only to those infrastructure projects which fulfill all the requirements needed. EU has a target to halve deaths on roads by 2020 and it looks like it can make this aim come reality.

Even though quantity of passengers and cargo has increased, it also means that costs to society and environment have become bigger and bigger. That’s why it has become even more important to create a sustainable mobility model, and there has been attempts to create and develop mobility and transport to answer this model. Important factors in sustainable mobility model are for example creating shared transportation networks and improving competitiveness of more environmental friendly forms of transportation.

Greenhouse gas emissions have grown in EU area since 1990 and mobility and transport is the only area in Europe in which this has happened. Mobility and transport is also the second largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, the largest being energy. EU has released a publication called the White Book, which addresses to these problems. It only recommends to reduce emissions, though. For example, the Book recommends to reduce emissions 20 percent from 2008 to 2030 and 60 percent from 1990 to 2050. The Book also makes some bigger suggestions, such as that cars that use ordinary fuels would be removed completely from city traffic by 2050. There is lots of mobility and transport in Europe so only time will tell if EU can actually answer to these recommendations.

EU has also addressed the problem of congestion, which has only became worse since quantity of traffic has grown. For example, EU has adviced its citizens to use public transport and transportation companies to move more cargo by trains and ships. Using public transport is problematic in those countries which are sparsely populated or have insufficient infrastructure, though. Thus, EU has several projects in order to improve cross-border infrastructure, and obligates new member countries to develop their transport networks in order to make it accessible with other networks. EU is also synchronizing its rail transport, and the aim is to create a single standard for rail control and command systems.

In conclusion, the directorate-general of Mobility and transport has many challenges to face, varying from road safety to greenhouse gas emissions. The DG has managed to face some of these challenges well, and for example even though people and cargo moving around are increasing in numbers, travelling has become more secure. The DG is answering its challenges for example by giving money only for infrastructure projects that can answer EUs sustainable mobility model, and by giving out publications such as the White Book, which gives out important suggestion how to prevent greenhouse gas emissions caused by transport.

Sources
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/fi/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.6.1.html [accessed 4.5.2017]

https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/transport_fi [accessed 4.5.2017]

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6. Provide a case-study of how the DG implements policy in the EU. What specific issue does it face?

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6. Provide a case-study of how the DG implements policy in the EU. What specific issue does it face?

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The Trans-European Transport network policy

One of the policies implemented by the DG of the mobility and transport is called Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).The aim is to promote the mobility between the member states. Having good mobility, and efficient transport in the European Union is necessary in order to be competitive. “Its 28 Member States currently have five million km of paved roads, more than 215,000 km of rail lines and 41,000 km of navigable inland waterways.” (European Commission, 2016). Keeping the existing roads, rail lines, and navigable inland waterways in good condition and create some faster ways of mobility are the main objectives. These polices serve a common interest, which is to permit to facilitate the mobility of the goods and persons across the continent.

In order to get deeper in the policy analysis, we will focus our study on the Eurocap project.

The project Eurocap rail is the number 28  of the 30 priorities fixed by the European Union, and aims to improve the connection between the 3 cities hosting the European Institutions: Bruxelles, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg. The Europcaprail is 190km of rail line which should be renovated between Brussels and Luxembourg, 40km in Luxembourg; 80km between Luxembourg, Metz, and Baudrecourt, and the creation of a new high speed line 106km between Baudrecourt and Strasbourg. Europol, a study made by the European Council in 1969, aimed to connect by aérotrain along the axis Bruxelles-Luxembourg-Strasbourg-Basel-Genova. (European Commission, 2016)

By those renovation and creation of the new line, the objective is to make the trip time from Luxembourg to Strasbourg shorter, from more than 2 hours to 1 hours and 35 minutes. And also to reduce the time of travel between Bruxelles and Strasbourg from 4,5 hours to 3 hours.
This connection is also integrated in the project “main line for Europe”. The aim of this project is to connect Paris to Budapest with different high speed trains, and to improve the condition to cross Europe.
The main problem this policy has faced is the decrease of the European Funds, which slowed down this process, but overall, this priority is a success, since the passengers can now enjoy trains at an international level more efficiently. The company SNCF, the national French company, is perplex about the construction of the new fast line between Baudrecourt and Paris, since it doesn't know if the line would be lucrative, gainful or not. (The Economist, 2014) This is mainly due to the decrease of the demands due to the increase of the price tickets. The importance of the success or the failure is mainly depending on the people.

Concerning the policies about transport and mobility, long time is needed in order to evaluate the success or the failure of the projects. Since the construction of this new line has been finished one year ago, the potential failure or success of this project must be revaluated in few years of time.

-European Commission (n.d.). Trans-European Transport Network TENTEC - About TEN-T - European Commission. [online] Ec.europa.eu. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/tentec/tentec-portal/site/en/abouttent.htm [Accessed 6 May 2017].

- Schumpeter (2014). France’s TGV: All change. [online] Economist.com. Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2014/08/france-s-tgv [Accessed 6 May 2017].

- European Commission (2016). Priority Project 28. [online] Innovation and Networks Executive Agency. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/ten-t/ten-t-projects/projects-by-priority-project/priority-project-28 [Accessed 6 May 2017].

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7. Provide a case-study of how the DG implements policy in Finland. What specific issue does it face?

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7. Provide a case-study of how the DG implements policy in Finland. What specific issue does it face?

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Elina Turpeinen 242529

Finland’s infrastructure is rated among the best in the entire EU and Finland has completed TEN-T Core Network for high-speed rail and inland waterways. Finland has been obeying DG’s policy pretty good but there is also some issues in DG’s policy that Finland isn’t ready to follow properly.

Directorate-General for mobility and transport’s one of the main objectives is to have free competition in rail transport but also in other mode of transports. All companies who have license for rail transport can offer their services everywhere in the European Union. In practice this doesn’t actualize in Finland.

Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications announced that VR Group has monopoly in person’s long distance rail transport until in 2024 (Short distances will be free for competition in 2018). Originally this monopoly would been ended in 2019. Ministry reasoned this decision with Finland not been ready to free competition and Finland’s railway infrastructure isn’t ready for it either. Ministry said also that they wanted to keep good quality in railway services.

Ministry wants to keep good quality in railway services but this hasn’t been come true everywhere in Finland. In the last few years there has been a lot of arguments about the actions of the government and VR. They wanted to reduce train routes to many small cities. Monopoly hasn’t secured good services in rail transport in Finland so it is interesting to see what will happen when free competition actually starts.

There is many good things in Finland's mobility and transport policy but there is also issues like above-mentioned VR Group case.

References:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/facts-fundings/scoreboard/countries/finland/investments-infrastructure_en (6.5.2017)
http://europa.eu/european-union/topics/transport_fi (6.5.2017)
http://www.mtv.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/artikkeli/vr-n-monopoli-kaukojunaliikenteessa-jatkuu-vuoteen-2024/1902660 (6.5.2017)

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3. What structure does the DG have? How does it function?

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3. What structure does the DG have? How does it function?

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Otto Kantanen 255246

The Directorate-General of Mobility and Transport is divided into five directorates, which are in turn divided into 3-5 units.

Directorate A - Policy Coordination
Unit A.1 - Policy Coordination and Communication
Unit A.2 - International Relations
Unit A.3 - Economic Analysis & Better Regulations
Unit A.4 - Legal Issues and Enforcement
Unit A.5 - Security

Directorate B - Investment, Innovative & Sustainable Transport
Unit B.1 - Trans-European Transport Network Policy
Unit B.2 - Transport Investment
Unit B.3 - Innovation and Reserach
Unit B.4 - Sustainable & Intelligent Transport
Unit B.5 - Social Aspects & Passenger Rights

Directorate C - Land Transport
Unit C.1 - Road Transport
Unit C.2 - Road Safety
Unit C.3 - Single European Rail Area
Unit C.4 - Rail Safety and Interoperability

Directorate D - Waterborne
Unit D.1 - Maritime Transport and Logistics
Unit D.2 - Maritime Safety
Unit D.3 - Ports and Inland Waterways Transport

Directorate E - Aviation
Unit E.1 - Aviation Policy
Unit E.2 - Aviation Agreements
Unit E.3 - Single European Sky
Unit E.4 - Aviation Safety

The role of each Directorate and Unit is somewhat self-evident from its name. Directorates A and B are what's known as horizontal Directorates, which means they're primarily involved in working with and supervising the other Directorates of DG MOVE, as well as other EU organizations. Directorates C-E are all responsible for a specific mode of transportation with mostly corresponding units that perform similar tasks.

The function of the Directorate-General is a sum of the activities of its Directorates, which mostly act independently, but in close cooperation especially due to the coordinating role of Directorate A. All are involved in designing, revising, supervising, and enforcing EU legislation in their respective fields, as well as taking steps to promote the Commission's stated goals in whatever way they can. There are also many less obvious tasks that different Units have taken out of necessity or to promote their goals, for example Unit C.2 maintains and develops the CARE database on road accident statistics to provide data for revising policy and runs targeted awareness campaigns on road safety, and E.3 is involved in coordinating civilian and military use of airspace in emergencies.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/2016-move-mission-statement.pdf (6.5.2017)

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8. What challenges will the DG face in the future?

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8. What challenges will the DG face in the future?

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Riina Kuusinen 285378

Europe is experiencing and still will experience in the future raising number in mobility and transport.

Future challenges are including:

Safety

Energy efficient (pollution - eco-friendly)

Mobility and transportation across Europe and inland

Finance -affordability

Safety and passenger´s rights

EU has set up regulations for all modes of transport to protect passengers and workers rights and safety, and make sure that they are not lost in various national rules. These numerous rules between different nations and the differences between laws throughout the EU nations will confuse those who do not travel frequently and those who do not use transport daily. Passengers are given chance to pay extra towards eco-friendly travelling (again slightly unequal for those who are not able to pay extra but good way to promote the company values).

(Example agreement freedom to travel between Nordic countries without passport or ID card is possible, but for Finnish people it is hard to understand the fact that when visiting Estonia for a day, a proper ID is necessary. Also, companies are responsible to use transport that is valid around the EU when transporting goods. People wish to have more freedom when moving around Europe: less control and more flexibility. However, they also wish that EU would control the movement of criminals and immigrants.)

Energy efficiency (and pollution)

Companies are facing problems to sell their goods across the countries in EU if the mobility is not working correctly and there are much specific requirements. This will affect especially the small companies that should get more financial support.

Transportation is also used for cargo goods deliveries between the dealing nations. Not all are able to keep up with the demands not now and not possible in the future either. Nature is important and need to be kept better in the future, it also starts from the grass root level.

Affordability
EU is trying lower the prices for public transport so everyone has access wherever they live: those who live in rural areas and those who live in metropolitan centres.

Mobility is not just between countries, but also cities and countryside. While in Finland local bus-routes are cancelled, people need their own cars to drive to work, school, or visit grocery shop. This phenomenon is not just in rural north part, it is also daily problem in less than hour away from the capital city area. While investing security in airports, and smooth travel in motorways, and safer marine traffic, and inland waterways, there is less money to keep up those local transportation, it is important for daily life. EU looks at the bigger picture, rather than the small tiny problems, that also need fixing. Therefore, countries like Finland, which most people still live in rural areas, are not able to access the public transport because it is not provided or it is not affordable.  Finland is facing a problem in the future on how to provide affordable and safe mobility. There are more retired people and therefore in few decades, are not able to travel by their own. Less people are born in Finland to fill this gap, more eco-friendly choices should be considered – which is always more expensive option to use.

Future challenges are also including

Considering that roads are not meeting the same standards all over the EU, drivers might not have been informed about the weather conditions from each country they pass and the safety regulations are not the same in all countries. This might be confusing and do reflects upon especially the small businesses.

The biggest challenges are to help the countries, especially those countries who are struggling financially to provide safe transportation and mobility.

EU consist of nations that are unequal and therefore those countries that are able to keep up with the standards will get more benefits. However, it might be more costly for countries who do not meet the standards than for those who do.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/news/2017-05-02-energy-efficiency-and-urban-mobility-eur-30-million-project-development_en (7.5.2017)

http://www.eucar.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Key-Challenges-for-Future-Mobility-and-Transport_final.pdf (7.5.2017)