On 14th November 2019, Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, from Romania, Commissioner-designate for Transport, is heard by the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) of the European Parliament in Brussels to test her general competences, European commitment and specific expertise related to her portfolio. On this occasion, Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN has the opportunity to make an opening statement. The following transcription is the result of an automatic process. Check Against delivery.

Brussels

Committee on Transport and Tourism

VĂLEAN, Adina-Ioana (EPP, RO, EC)

hearing

hearing of Commissioners

2019 Commissioners' hearings (T)

hearing of Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN 2019 (T)

Hearing of Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: opening statement by Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Madam President, dear colleagues, I am, of course, in a very special situation today, but honoured to be the commissioner designate for a portfolio for transport. And of course, I want to share with you a couple of my thoughts regarding this very important portfolio for the European Commission in its next mandate.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: First of all, the benefits for EU citizenship, the freedom to live, work, study and do business anywhere in Europe is one of the citizens value the most. Transport makes this possible. Mobility and transport are the backbone of the internal market and support the freedom of movement of citizens and goods. They connect people and help strengthen cohesion across the European Union and thus play a key role in its integration and development. We are in a new era, so with accelerated innovation and transformation bringing many new challenges and opportunities. It will be my duty as Commissioner for Transport to work in close cooperation with the European Parliament as well as with the Council towards making this changes work for everyone.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Today I am seeking your approval, your trust and your support for making transport fit for a Europe, that is sustainable, fair and prosperous. President elect von der Leyen has signalled that the European green deal will be a key political priority for the new Commission. This deal cannot be complete without transport at its core. A European green deal must ensure that Europeans are able to enjoy affordable access to sustainable and smart mobility. The greening of mobility must serve our citizens, businesses and economy in the best way possible.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: As former chair of Environment Committee, I can tell you that the EU has fully delivered on its promise to build a comprehensive architecture for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With the completion of the clean energy package, we now have the most advanced framework that will enable significant emission emissions reductions after 2030. This is not enough. By 2050 we want to be carbon neutral and that needs additional efforts.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: I will work hard to reduce the environmental footprint of mobility and transport activities and make sure our actions further contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions and improve their quality. All of this must be an economic success if we want citizens to embrace it and the world to follow our leadTo this aim I think there are several areas in which I see absolutely necessary to prioritize actions.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: But first, I want to talk about a safe and secure transport. Today we have the safest transport system in the world. But we must constantly improve our safety standards and remain one step ahead. Safety is paramount for all transport modes. There cannot be any complacency here. Same for security and safety and security are the two faces of the same coin? Looking at our safety performance in one sector stands out road. Even though Europe remains the safest region in the world, 25000 roads deaths per year it's simply unacceptable. We should share the objective of halving the number of deaths severe injuries up to 2030 compared to 2020. I will put all the resources available in convincing ministers, investors and developers to internalise the safety pledge permanently and I need you to support me in this quest.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Then we need clean and sustainable mobility. A climate neutral economy by 2050 must see CO2 emissions from transport reduced by 90 percent. But if we continue with current measures, all we get is just 20 percent. So it's absolutely a need to check out our actions on three crucial areas. First, incentivizing direct consumer choices and low emission practices, then improving efficiency across the whole transport system. And thirdly, to increase the uptake of clean vehicles and alternative fuels.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Reducing the allowances to airlines with the aim of eliminating them over time, it's part of my mission as it was entrusted and extending the emission trading scheme to maritime sector, iIt's something which will bring a valuable change. In general it should be the users who shoulder the cost of their trips, not society as a whole. However, pricing will only work if more sustainable alternative remains attractive, affordable and available. Otherwise, change will be at the expense of disadvantaged groups or peripheral regions, which would be unacceptable.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: I want to promote mobility as a service, make alternatives to conventional private cars affordable, adjust infrastructure and embrace smart and collaborative solutions. We should start by eliminating unnecessary emissions. In the absence of progress on a single European sky makes our flights unnecessarily long, resulting in more carbon emissions. I will push to make a fully developed single European sky finally happen.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: It is not only the skies that are grey. Our cities are suffocated by congestion too. We owe it to our citizens to free their urban mobility and stop wasting their time and money. Overall, we must take all transport modes sustainable, and for that we need not to only improve our standards, but we must also ensure that clean mobility solutions are widely adopted and deployed. Therefore, I will support value chain partnerships with the industry as part of the European Green Deal. We should stop speaking about the antagonism between transport and climate change policies, and we should focus how to work together to improve and move things quickly.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: I will work with the member states and private investors towards deploying a significant increase in publicly accessible recharging or refuelling point, I want to promote the uptake of sustainable fuels across road maritime and air transport. This will give the sector a real opportunity to make a quantum leap forward towards decarbonisation.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Then I'm asked to ensure a smart mobility ecosystem. Being smart and sustainable goes hand-in-hand. We need to take full advantage of digitalisation to make transport safer, cleaner, more efficient and more accessible. Citizens want to be a part of a faster moving world, and they want to be connected to the coolest stuff technology has to offer, and they have the right to be part of that. Integrated traffic travel, safety apps in our cars as well as other means of transport, are just a few support features that can be provided to consumers, and I agree that legislation can accelerate their deployment and support the integration of mobility services behind the apps.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: For businesses a more modern multimodal logistic environment will save time and money and will reduce carbon emissions. A reall market for digital solutions is emerging and I want the EU to remain a leader from block chain and digital mapping and tracking to connected and automated vehicles, planes and vessels. This is why it's important to boost research and innovation and make sure that conditions are right to deploy connected and automated mobility successfully. Innovation is a collective use for effort, and I am a true believer in working with industry for timely development. This is what I was pushing as chair of the Industry Committee and I will continue to do so in my new role. Challenges do exist, jobs will be impacted, therefore, I will prioritize investment in reskilling to keep, for example, the automotive industry thriving socially and economically.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: And now I'm getting to fair and inclusive mobility. For our trust transport sector workers I want training on the skills the future jobs will require. I want retraining offered to those who keep the wheels turning today. Automation will only mean huge changes, but it must not come at the cost of human talent that Europe needs to stay ahead. Eleven million people count on us for their jobs. We shall not disappoint them. I will support that adjust transition fund build around their needs. Transport jobs must be attractive for everyone, especially for young people and young professionals whom we need to attract to this sector. I want to take the woman in transport platform initiative further and I want to see the potential of gender balance and gender mainstreaming thrive.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: I'm not stressing enough freedom of movement is a right for every single citizens of the EU, regardless of location, income or special needs. Travellers who have restricted mobility need to be able to move around is the same ease as everyone. Those in remote areas need to be better connected to our transport network, and everyone rightly expects to be protected in case something goes wrong. Europe has today very comprehensive messengers right framework. But we need to take this further.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Now, if we talk about investment, because for all our projects we need the right financing. First, I want to say that the 2020 budget is very important because it's a bridge to the next multi-annual financial framework and it's essential for the continuity of our project. Connecting Europe facility represents for me one of the most valuable contribution as an MEP this House I was working with Dominique Riquet and Ines Ayala Sender to succeed to put in place the most important instrument for investment in transport and agenda on networks. And we are now financing the completion of our core network. The missing essential links which isolate our communities.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: I have opposed the cuts under the current multi-annual financial framework, and I'm committing in front of you that I will defend the budget for Connecting Europe facility for the next financial framework. Transport infrastructure is vital for enabling European defence strategy. Improved mobility for our troops and equipment should not be overlooked when we invest in infrastructure and dual use facilities for civilian and military purposes are a major opportunity for our union and should be a strategic choice.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Thinking globally, the vision of the president elect is one of a geopolitical Commission. This is exactly what we need. We need Europe to maintain its multilateralism in on the global stage. For transport that means Europe needs to be a hub for all neighbouring regions but more importantly for global supply chains and passenger flows. And this is extremely important for our competitiveness. Global trade needs a global level playing field. In transport that means the chance to use our regulatory leadership to become a norm for global standards. Our competitive advantages can be reinforced if we act properly in our international bodies to take on board the benefits of our success stories on safety or security, on environment, on fair competition.

SOUNDBITE (English) Adina-Ioana VĂLEAN, Commissioner-designate, Transport: Ladies and gentlemen, balancing our ambitious commitments for climate change mitigation, for sustainability with the growing need for mobility, with a fair and inclusive transport, with social issues. And the competitiveness is going to be a challenge for all of us. And we need to work together on that. I know how important is as being twelve years in this house for you to work with a commissioner. I know how important would be for the commissioner to build on the expertise and experience of the members of the European Parliament and then committing to you that I will share from the very beginning with you ideas, projects, and we will work through the whole chain of producing legislation. With this pledges and with this shared vision, I ask for your support today so that we can start a journey together. Thank you very much.