Raquel Sánchez presents the priorities for the Spanish presidency to the EU Council of Transport Ministers

The Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, has travelled to Luxembourg to take part in the Council of Ministers of the European Union. The head of Mitma took advantage of the meeting to present to her counterparts the work programme of the Spanish Presidency of the Council, which begins on 1 July, in the field of transport and mobility.

After thanking the previous trio of presidencies (France, Czech Republic and Sweden) for their work, the head of Mitma ratified our country's commitment to the presidency of the Council and pointed out that its objectives revolve around the promotion of more sustainable, resilient and digital transport, always placing people and social cohesion at the centre of policies.

In this regard, Raquel Sánchez pointed out that our country will work on the revision of the Single European Sky Regulation, a fundamental issue for reducing emissions and improving the competitiveness of air transport, and that it will be fully involved in the negotiations between the Parliament and the Council for the revision of the Trans-European Transport Network Regulation. Addressing the legislative packages to be presented by the Commission this year, such as the Greening Transport Package or the Maritime Safety Package, will also be a priority.

During the Council, the last of the Swedish Presidency, legislative initiatives were also addressed, such as the revision of the Directive on driving licences or the revision of the Directive facilitating the cross-border exchange of information on road safety related traffic offences.

Meetings and debate

During the meeting, the minister held brief meetings with the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, the Danish Minister of Transport, Thomas Danielsen, the Hungarian Deputy Minister of Construction and Transport, Nándor Csepreghy, and the Belgian Minister of Mobility, Georges Gilkinet.

During the greeting, Raquel Sánchez conveyed to Vălean Spain's intention to work in coordination with all the Member States and with the support of the European Commission, in order to make significant progress on the main points and legislative dossiers. In this regard,she expressed to her counterpart from Denmark her interest in their collaboration, while to the ministers from Hungary and Belgium, with whom he shares the trio of presidencies, she conveyed her desire to work in coordination and join forces for their better development.

In this regard, she took the opportunity to share with her Hungarian counterpart the geostrategic importance for Europe of recovering the original length of the Mediterranean Corridor and for it to reach the border with Ukraine.

The Council of Transport Ministers concluded with a working lunch in which the minister discussed with the other representatives mechanisms to make freight transport more efficient. In particular, she highlighted the Spanish experience in relation to the change of rail gauge, highlighting the Spanish patent for the OGI (variable gauge) axis and the trans-European transport pilot project, which was devised and implemented from Spain, to transport grain by train from Ukraine to the port of Barcelona.

She also outlined other initiatives launched by Spain to boost rail freight transport, such as the Mercancías 30 strategy, the programme to support sustainable and digital freight transport and the eco-incentives programme, financed with European NexGenerationEU funds, within the framework of the Recovery Plan.

Non official translation