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Mark your diary!

Mark your diary!

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Monti: Reboot Europe through the Single Market

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Why Europe needs smarter transport and logistics PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 12 October 2011 00:00

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By making ambitious plans for a Single European Transport Area dominated by modal shift scenarios the European Union risks losing sight of its real needs.

The European debate on transport rightly takes account of issues like congestion and the environment, and listens to the views of diverse groups like automotive manufacturers, train operators and infrastructure builders. But a voice that is often overlooked is that of delivery services, who rely on efficient transport links across Europe, according to logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL.


Carsten Hess (photo): "Why are the Commission and the European Parliament not more ambitious?"

Indeed, Carsten Hess, Head of Deutsche Post DHL’s Corporate Representation in Brussels, says that while the European Union has long talked grandly about how to remake transport across the continent, its record has been decidedly spotty. “There has been an inability over the past 30 years to create efficient cross-border European freight networks,” he says. “You have two philosophies: one is about constant new regulation, and the other is about enforcing the single market which the EU has committed to. But we don’t have any complete single market at the moment, whether on road, rail or on air.”

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