"Playing the fool in the EU transport policy ─ the mode chosen by 95 % of the people gets less than 3 % of the funds."

23.11.2007

The EU Commission published on Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007 its figures for the Trans-European Transport Network, totality of funds being € 5,3 billion. Commission claims it will reach its objectives in sustainable development by allocating 74,2 % of the money to railway projects and 2,7 % for the road sector.

"All the modes of transport should have level playing field. This bluntly biased proposal is irresponsible because it is the road sector which transports people and goods from door to door, and therefore it will always be the mode that citizens and business will choose", MEP Ari Vatanen comments the proposal.

"Our road network meets over 90 % of the Union transport needs, and instead of fighting against it for ideological reasons we should open its bottlenecks. That means savings on money and time, less pollution, and less human tragedies in the form of accidents", Ari Vatanen says. "History has proven that trying to shift transport from roads to rails using force is playing the fool. It is physically impossible and economically disastrous. The EU has forgotten what already Romans knew and John F. Kennedy repeated: "It is not the wealth of a nation that builds roads, but the roads that build the wealth of a nation."

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