UKTiE

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  This week the world’s focus shifts to New York City for the UN Climate Action Summit, which will seek to set ambitious climate objectives ahead of COP25 in Chile in December. This happens a week before the European Parliament hearings for the European Commissioners-designate who will undoubtedly be drawn on climate objectives, including Rovana Plumb the Transport Commissioner-designate. We will be bringing you an analysis of that hearing, but we already know that she is facing an…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  Last week the European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen presented her European Commission team. Among them, she has selected Romanian Rovana Plumb as Transport Commissioner-designate. As previously mentioned, transport will have an increased climate focus and this has materialised with transport falling under the purview of Frans Timmermans who is both the Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal and Commissioner-designate for Climate Action. Rovana Plumb, from the Socialist Party of Romania, will have…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  As Parliament prepares to be prorogued in the UK tonight, Brussels prepares for European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen to announce her European Commission team. Following this, hearings will be set for these nominees in the European Parliament. These hearings will further allow us to glean new insights into the direction of EU policymaking for the years ahead. As previously stated here in previous editions, the climate change debate will be firmly at transport’s doorstep…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  Business resumes this week in Brussels with the European Commission, European Parliament and Council all back with meetings. Political headlines churned throughout the summer, with the main stories revolving around the trials and tribulations facing von der Leyen as she creates her new European Commission. We do not yet know what this new Commission will look like nor who will have the Transport portfolio. What we do know for certain, is that while the European Commission…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  With all signs pointing towards a No Deal Brexit being the most likely outcome, we have decided to dedicate this update towards exploring what a No Deal Brexit would mean for the UK transport sector. We will focus primarily on what the EU has done to prepare for a No Deal Brexit as an indication to the level of access and connectivity that UK transport will have to the continent after October 31st. If you haven’t already…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  With our new Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the helm, we have seen a clear intent to ramp up the messaging and the preparations around a No Deal Brexit. The UK Government has clearly shifted to a more proactive preparatory stance towards No Deal with the Government going as far as streamlining the Whitehall process to ensure adequate preparedness for October 31st. While it is hard to distinguish bluster from fact, it does appear that the…

Mark’s EU Week for Transport  Last week was the EU Sustainable Energy Week, which UKTiE attended in order to gain further insight into the forthcoming EU climate agenda. The conclusion was that, while the current policy negotiations can appear quite vague, specificity will come and will come quickly once the new European Parliament begins in the first week of July. We are hearing measures ranging from cutting emissions in shipping, to creating a level playing field by increasing aviation taxation, to…