Kingdom of Denmark
		: : : :	15 September 2005 129-126

Re: Consultation on the transport policy of the European Union up till 2010

Denmark finds that the White Paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide” from September 2001 is still a good basis for a discussion on common transport issues in the European Union.

This discussion should focus on the establishment of an effective, coherent and sustainable European transport system, which is of great importance for the future competitiveness of Europe and thereby an essential condition for growth and employment within the European Union.

The transport sector is an indispensable part of the modern society and mobility is a vital necessity for both industry and for citizens in their every day life in terms of professional life. A well functioning transport sector is a prerequisite for a new economic growth in Europe and is therefore a key sector in terms of achieving the aims of the Lisbon strategy.

The development of the transport system must be based on setting framework conditions, and it is of paramount importance to take an industry perspective. The industry perspective must be set to encourage innovation and cooperation within and between the different transport industries and hereby catering for the development of an efficient transport system.

Furthermore the creation of good framework conditions should be preferred to financial support of individual operators resulting in distortion of competition conditions.

Denmark agrees that there is a need for a number of changes in the transport policy of the European Union in order to accomplish the ideal correlation between the different modes of transport. However, Denmark can only support measures to promote a shift between the transport modes if environmental, economical and efficiency improvements can be verified. At the same time it is important to have a realistic estimate of the potential shift from road to rail and maritime transport.

Denmark supports the further liberalization in the railway sector in order to promote the role of the rail sector in  a coherent, efficient and sustainable European transport sector.

Denmark also welcomes the realization of a Single European Sky in order to achieve a coherent and efficient European traffic control system, which will reduce the distances travelled and thereby reduce the environmental impact from the aviation sector.

Breaking the link between economic growth and the growth in the transport sector’s environmentally harmful effects as well as the congestion and traffic safety aspects has to be handled under the headline of cost efficiency. In order to be able to reach this objective it is necessary to improve the coordination of policies and initiatives in all affected sectors. It is particularly important to focus on limitation of the CO₂ emissions, air pollution and noise from the transport sector as a whole, and the targets must be realistic.

Regarding the question of financing new infrastructure Denmark is willing to discuss the possibility for providing alternative methods for financing. However, the suggestion to use revenues from existing infrastructure to finance the establishment of new infrastructure seems rather problematic. Denmark does not support such an “earmarking” of public revenues for specific purposes.

The White Paper suggests a reduction of the number of killed persons in the traffic by 50 %. Denmark has a positive attitude towards initiatives, which improve the road safety. Road safety is to a large degree a national matter. This does not, however, prevent a cooperation at EU level or European legislation in certain areas.

 The European Union has a role in providing common safety standards, such as in relation to the safety of vehicles. Also common EU standards concerning e.g. the safety of passengers in coaches with sleepers, which are typically used on longer, international journeys could promote the safety level. In such cases national legislation does not protect the safety of passengers sufficiently. Therefore Denmark finds it relevant to introduce common EU standards in this area.

The recent enlargement of the European Union from 15 to at present 25 member states implies a number of challenges as well as new possibilities. To get a maximum profit out of these possibilities it should be judged carefully what areas should be in focus concerning new EU initiatives in the years to come.