Event report

The Ministry of Justice and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a webinar19 January 2022 about the European common transport policy, about legislations in place , its effects on the future of Europe with special regard to the climate goals set. In the webinar, participants heard the perspective from the European institutions (EP) who gave us a great overview about the current legislative files and procedures in the European Union including the Hungarian perspectives about common transport policy and the climate neutrality. During the consultation citizens learnt that there is an increase in the importance of the common transport policy, but the interests of western countries and Easter countries divide. Citizens believe that these division harms the future of Europe, and it perception by the citizens and European decision makers should strive for consensus that is acceptable for each member states as equality between member states is a basic principles enshrined in the Treaties. In this context participants discussed that the EU law-making is a long process, it takes years to adopt a proposal, while the world is changing very fast, whether we look at pandemics, digitalization or the green transformation, for example. The time between a proposal and the actual enactment of the legislation can take several years, making it difficult to accelerate the process. As regard questions coming from the participants, the controversies surrounding the mobility package was presented. International transport is almost the only service in which Member States from the Central - Eastern part of Europe perform better than their Western counterparts, creating a strong competitive situation between companies. The legislative package, as well as certain directives within it, are hampering the operation of certain companies in EU Member States and creating a negative competitive situation for them. In general, The aim of the Hungarian Government is to ensure that EU legislation and legislative amendments are in line with the European goals, such as achieving climate neutrality by 2050, at the same time serving the interests of European stakeholders and the citizens. Therefore we believe it is important to involve economic actors, organizations, national and foreign chambers of commerce in the legislative processes and in the work for sustainable development in the field of transport that does not lead to extreme costs paid by smaller economies, or by the European people.