Press room 

MEPs voted to renew the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the 2021-2027 period to ensure continued development of trans-European transport, energy and telecom networks.

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Proposals to end biannual clock changes from 2021 were backed by the Transport and Tourism Committee on Monday.

EU Commission and member states need to redouble efforts to achieve broad coverage and even distribution of alternative fuels infrastructure across the EU.

All of the EP’s 20 standing committees and two subcommittees held their constitutive meetings on Wednesday to elect their chair and vice-chairs.

Updated EU rules to fight illegal practices in road transport and to help improve drivers' employment conditions were approved by the Transport Committee.

EU countries imposing time-based road use charges will need to switch to distance-based ones for trucks and buses from 2023 and cars from 2026, under draft rules adopted today.

Loopholes that airlines use to deny compensation to passengers delayed for over three hours should be closed by Transport Committee amendments, voted on Tuesday, to the European Commission’s proposal on revised air passenger rights. These amendments further restrict grounds for denying information, compensation and assistance, and make it easier for national authorities to penalise airlines that do not fulfil their obligations.

Measures to improve domestic rail passenger services by opening up public service contracts to more competition, giving operators fairer access to infrastructure and harmonizing safety certification to improve interoperability and get innovative new rolling stock on the rails faster were approved in the Transport and Tourism Committee on Tuesday.

Ministers are outlining the priorities of the German Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

To help reduce traffic accidents, new cars, trucks and buses should be equipped with driver assistance systems, transport MEPs say in a draft resolution voted on Thursday.

TRAN

Transport and Tourism Committee decided to start negotiations with the Council on the mobility package based on the position adopted by the Parliament during the 8th parliamentary term.

Climate neutral transition of the maritime transport should be followed by a notable reduction of emissions, clean ports and giving up of heavy fuel oil usage, said MEPs on Thursday.

Tourism is a major contributor to European economy and EU visa policy reform needs to continue, but new security concerns also need to be addressed, MEPs said in a debate in the Transport and Tourism Committee on Wednesday with tourism sector and Commission representatives.

A provisional agreement between EP and Council negotiators to open up the EU domestic passenger rail markets and to ensure equal conditions for railway companies with the aim of improving quality of services and rail sector performance was approved in the EP Transport and Tourism Committee on Tuesday.

Transport Committee MEPs discussed with Commissioner Vălean the Single European Sky proposal that will allow the aviation sector to reduce CO2 emissions as well as costs.

Members of Parliament’s Tourism Task Force request additional urgent measures to relaunch tourism in Europe and help businesses to survive the COVID-19 crisis.

In a joint PETI-TRAN committees’ hearing on Wednesday, MEPs will hear about a new report by the EU Court of Auditors, followed by a panel with industry experts.

A provisional deal on new road charging rules for trucks to transition from time-based to distance-based charging was approved in the Transport and Tourism Committee on Monday.