Transport in the EU

News and information about the European Union's transport policies.

EU to propose lifting diesel taxes to avoid 'tank tourism' — 12 February 2007, 00:29 CET

The EC is to propose lifting minimum diesel taxes to discourage hauliers from tanking up in countries with low rates.

Secondary trading at EU airports — 16 January 2007, 18:43 CET

Study on the impact of the introduction of secondary trading at Community airports.

Animal Welfare during transport - Legislation coming into force — 19 October 2006, 17:42 CET

Since EU Member States could not find agreement on a revision of existing maximum travelling times and animal stocking densities on vehicles, the European Commission agreed that these two issues will be the subject of a further separate proposal to be presented not later than 4 years after the entry into force of the Regulation and to be prepared in the light of the outcomes of enforcement of the new rules by the Member States. The Regulation will enter into force by 2007.

European Maritime Safety Agency — 14 September 2006, 16:47 CET

The European Maritime Safety Agency, created in the aftermath of the Erika disaster, will contribute to the enhancement of the overall maritime safety system in the Community. Its goals are, through its tasks, to reduce the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea.

Search for transport companies in Europe — 20 October 2010, 12:38 CET

Transport Services companies in Europe

EU Tourism sector — 26 August 2006, 13:00 CET

Tourism relates to a wide range of areas, to name only a few: employment, regional development, education, environment, consumer protection, health, safety, new technology, transport, finance, taxation and culture.

Transport and the EU — 26 August 2006, 12:07 CET

Open frontiers and affordable transport have given Europeans unprecedented levels of personal mobility. Goods are shipped rapidly and efficiently from factory to customer, often in different countries. The European Union has contributed by opening national markets to competition and by removing physical and technical barriers to free movement. But the EU recognises that today's transport patterns and growth rates are unsustainable.

Competition in the EU Car Sector — 08 August 2006, 22:41 CET

Latest news on car distribution, price differentials etc - Europa site

European transport policy — 07 August 2006, 18:15 CET

European Commission Transport portal

Single European Sky — 22 September 2020, 17:19 CET

Since 2004, the European Union (EU) has gained competences in air traffic management (ATM) and the decision-making process has moved away from an intergovernmental practice to the EU framework. The EU’s main objective is to reform ATM in Europe in order to cope with sustained air traffic growth and operations under the safest, most cost- and flight-efficient and environmentally friendly conditions.

Galileo European Satellite Navigation System — 02 April 2015, 14:04 CET

The Galileo programme is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate global positioning service under civilian control. The fully deployed system will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. Galileo will provide Europe with independence in satellite navigation but will also be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation systems.

Trans-European Networks — 03 January 2007, 18:44 CET

The construction of Trans-European Networks (TEN) is seen as an important element for economic growth and the creation of employment. The idea for TEN emerged by the end of the 1980s in conjunction with the proposed Single Market. A big market, with freedom of movement within it for goods, persons and services, needed the various regions and national networks making up that market to be properly linked by modern and efficient infrastructure.

EU Maritime Policy — 07 August 2006, 18:08 CET

Considering its geography, its history and globalisation the European Union is still very dependent on the maritime transport. Nearly 90% of its external trade and more than 40% of its internal trade goes by sea; on the whole nearly 2 billion tons of freight are loaded and unloaded EU ports each year; maritime companies belonging to European Union nationals control nearly 40% of the world fleet; the majority of EU trade is carried on vessels controlled by EU interests; and finally the maritime transport sector - also including shipbuilding, ports, fishing and related industries and services - employs some 3 million people in the European Union.

Transport networks (TEN-T) — 03 January 2007, 18:44 CET

Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) - the construction of the trans-European transport network is a major element in economic competitiveness and a balanced and sustainable development of the European Union.

EU car sector — 07 August 2006, 17:44 CET

Competition in the EU car sector - what's new

Air transport in the EU — 07 August 2006, 12:37 CET

Of all forms of transport, air travel has seen by far the most impressive growth in the European Union over the last twenty years. In terms of passenger-kilometres, traffic increased by an average of 7.4 per cent a year between the year 1980 and 2001, while traffic at the airports af the 15 Member States increased five-fold since 1970. Despite the impact on air transport of the 11th of September terrorist attack it's expected that the traffic trend will recover in the coming years - European Commission web site

EU shipbuilding sector — 07 August 2006, 12:16 CET

The shipbuilding industry is an important and strategic industry in a number of EU member states and for the European Community as a whole. There are more than 150 shipyards in the EU, with around 40 of them active in the global market for large sea-going vessels. The production in the EU concentrates increasingly in high-value market segments. The shipyards employ around 100.000 people directly and more than 400 000 indirectly. Since the enlargement of the EU, the annual turnover of the EU shipbuilding industry is more than EUR 11.5 billion.

Schengen Area — 02 January 2024, 21:59 CET

The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 400 million EU citizens, along with non-EU nationals living in the EU or visiting the EU as tourists, exchange students or for business purposes (anyone legally present in the EU).

Road Transport in the EU — 05 August 2006, 23:20 CET

EU policy objectives for road transport are to promote efficient road freight and passengers transport services, to create fair conditions for competition, to promote and harmonise safer and more environmental friendly technical standards, to ensure a minimum fiscal and social harmonisation and to make sure that the rules in road transport are effectively applied without discrimination.

Tourism - EU Internet Guide for the tourism sector — 05 August 2006, 22:48 CET

The Internet Guide for the tourism sector contains information on various EU programmes, schemes, funds, initiatives and actions of interest to the tourism sector and establishes Internet links to the homepages of the relevant programmes. The objective of this new Internet guide is to make available to actors in the tourism sector and to other interested people, a comprehensive and structured overview of the opportunities the Community offers to help the development of sustainable tourism.

Europass portal — 03 January 2007, 19:20 CET

Europass helps people to make their skills and qualifications clearly and easily understood in Europe (European Union, EFTA/EEA and candidate countries) and also to move anywhere in Europe. The Europass portal allows EU citizens to complete online, with the help of a tutorial and examples, their own Europass CV and Europass Language Passport.

European driving license — 05 August 2006, 21:54 CET

The second EU driving licence directive 91/439/EEC is governed by two major principles: to facilitate the free movement of the citizens of the Community and contribute to the improvement of road traffic safety. With regard to the free movement of citizens, EU Directive 91/439/EEC introduced the principle of mutual recognition of driving licences issued by the Member States. The Community model driving licence was established by Directive 80/1263/EEC in order to facilitate comprehension and the mutual recognition of licences by the authorities of the Member States. With regard to road safety, Directive 91/439/EEC harmonised categories of driving licence; conditions for the issue of a driving licence; minimum ages for the various categories; driving tests; minimum standards of physical and mental fitness.

European Railway Agency — 01 August 2006, 23:22 CET

The European Railway Agency has the mission of reinforcing safety and interoperability of railways throughout Europe.

European Aviation Safety Agency - EASA — 04 April 2015, 23:29 CET

EASA is the European Union Authority in aviation safety. The main activities of the organisation include the strategy and safety management, the certification of aviation products and the oversight of approved organisations and EU Member States. Established in 2002, EASA enjoys over 10 years in operation. The Agency staff is composed of more than 700 aviation experts and administrators from all EU Member States. The headquarters is in Cologne (Germany) with an office in Brussels and 3 international permanent representations in Washington (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Beijing (China). EASA enjoys technical, financial and legal autonomy to ensure the highest common level of safety protection for EU citizens within the EU and worldwide, to ensure the highest common level of environmental protection, to avoid duplication in the regulatory and certification processes among Member States and to facilitate the creation of an internal EU aviation market. EASA plays a leading role within the EU External Aviation Policy: the Agency is a strong counterpart of other Aviation Authorities outside the EU (e.g. USA, Canada, Brazil) and a major contributor to the export of the EU aviation standards worldwide, in order to promote the movement of EU aeronautical products, professionals and services throughout the world.

Future EU Maritime Policy: Green Paper — 31 July 2006, 20:43 CET

The Green Paper on a Future Maritime Policy for the Union is the result of over a year of consulting with stakeholders, identifying gaps between sea-related sectoral policy areas and attempting to adopt best practice and learn from obstacles and challenges. The mandate has been to examine all economic activities of Europeans, which are linked to or impact on the oceans and seas, as well as all the policies dealing with them, with a view to finding the best way to extract more benefit from the oceans in a sustainable manner. This Green Paper will be a success if it forges a consensus among stakeholders – the Member States and the citizens – that the EU needs to look at oceans and seas in an integrated manner if Europe is to maintain its resource base and continue being competitive in Maritime Affairs. This is your chance to voice your opinion on the Green Paper and make your ideas known!