At their joint informal meeting today, the Transport and Environment Ministers of the EU have announced the Graz Declaration on “Starting a new era: clean, safe and affordable mobility for Europe” with a clear commitment to modal shift towards sustainable modes of transport and support for cycling. After the “Declaration of Luxembourg on Cycling as a Climate Friendly Transport Mode” adopted by EU Transport Ministers in October 2015, Environment Ministers have now joined them in a further decisive step for the promotion of cycling at EU level. ECF welcomes the Graz Declaration, which takes up many of the points we have called for in our Recommendations for an EU Cycling Strategy.

Calling for a “green deal for a new mobility in Europe” and placing transport policy in a larger context, the ministers recognised that further ambitious policies are needed to achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and European air quality policies and to improve the safety, health and quality of life of European citizens. This should also contribute to green economic growth and create new opportunities for businesses and green jobs.

Commitment to sustainable modal shift + support for active modes

Strikingly, the declaration contains a clear commitment to modal shift towards sustainable modes of transport, including cycling, that has so far been lacking at EU level. This commitment is further strengthened by the prominent role given to active modes like walking and cycling in the declaration. They are acknowledged as an equal mode of transport and as an integral part of an intermodal mobility chain. The ministers call upon the Commission, Member States, regional and local authorities and other stakeholders to further develop the following actions:

• Developing a European strategic and supportive framework to promote active mobility aimed at increasing its share in transport, taking into account the “Declaration of Luxembourg on Cycling as a Climate Friendly Transport Mode” and the ongoing work for the UNECE WHO Pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion.

ECF very much supports this call for a strategic framework and considers that the Recommendations for an EU Cycling Strategy can serve as a base for such a document.

• Integrating active mobility in the current and future European funding and financing schemes to enable the extension and improvement of infrastructure for active mobility, including the development of a Trans-European Cycling Network (TEC), and in particular, to support Member States’ programmes for active mobility. This infrastructure development should cover all types of bicycles and ensure multimodal connectivity with public transport and new mobility services.

ECF is happy to see that the ministers recognise the importance of the TEN-T network for active mobility. Regarding the development of a Trans-European Cycling Network, it is important to note that this development has already started in the form of the EuroVelo network that is also mentioned in the TEN-T guidelines.

• promoting consistent data collection, information sharing and dissemination of good practices;
• including the health benefits of active mobility in infrastructure and transport projects and policies, in particular incorporating active mobility into the TEN-T Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects, using the WHO Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT);
• scaling up EU-wide and national awareness-raising efforts on the multiple benefits of active mobility for health, for liveable, safe and attractive urban environments, and for local and regional economic attractiveness;
• providing support for initiatives aimed at promoting behavioural change and the creation of safe environments such as cyclable and walkable streets to broadly enable active mobility for citizens.

This is a positive suggestion; ECF hopes that it will translate into concrete policies, also in the field of tax policy. For successful behavioural change we need a favourable fiscal and regulatory environment (fiscal incentives for cycling and reduction of environmentally harmful subsidies, e.g. for company cars), and no new burdens for cycling (EU VAT rates reform, Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive).

Creating a safe mobility system for all users

The Declaration also contains several suggested actions in the field of road safety that could create positive affects for cyclists. It states that cyclists and pedestrians should be particularly considered in the context of changes currently underway on the Road Infrastructure Safety Management. This is something that ECF has been lobbying for, we think that TEN-T, EU funded and, if the scope can be extended, primary roads need to take cyclists and pedestrians into account. Currently the assumption is that only motor vehicles use them and so is designed and planned only with these vehicles in mind. This is a mistake; there are many places where cyclists/pedestrians use these types of roads, and it is excellent news that ministers recognise the importance of the use that cyclists and pedestrians make of this sort of road infrastructure. However, there are currently huge quality differences in this part of the road network with regards to good infrastructure for walking and cycling. We also think that the European Commission should provide quality minimum requirements for cycling infrastructure to assist Member States with the know-how in designing and building infrastructure for cyclists, particularly important since much of this network is publicly funded by the EU, so the EU should be able to understand how to judge and assess its design, planning, and implementation. ECF's work in this field can be found here.

The Declaration also notes the huge advancements in vehicle technology which can be beneficial to cyclists and pedestrians. The General Safety Regulations is also currently under review in Brussels and there are, as ministers recognise in this declaration, many technologies such as Intelligent Speed Assistance, Automatic Emergency Braking, and better Direct Vision for trucks, that would bring about a dramatic reduction in fatalities and serious injuries. ECF work on this can be found here 

Making the whole mobility system more sustainable

In the Declaration, the ministers also address several other points like electromobility and multimodality that could have a positive effect for cycling:

• They call for promoting the introduction of electromobility and responding to the electrification needs in all modes of transport. While electric cycling is unfortunately not mentioned in the electromobility chapter of the declaration, the reference to “all modes of transport” could be a base for more balanced electromobility policies that do not focus exclusively on cars.
• Another suggested action is supporting awareness-raising sustainable mobility planning and land-use policies to counteract urban sprawl and providing incentives for modal shift and environment and climate-friendly connectivity and accessibility in cities and regions.
• The declaration also explicitly mentions the increasing of multimodality and connections of rail transport with cycling through bike parking and allowing bikes in trains. ECF hopes that this will also guide the position of Transport Ministers in the ongoing negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament on the Revision of the EU Railway Passenger Rights Regulation.

For ECF, the suggested actions in the Declaration point in the right direction, recognising cycling as an integral part of the mobility system and a solution to many challenges in transport and environmental policy. We are happy that after transport ministers, the environment ministers of the EU also support cycling in the spirit of the Recommendations for an EU Cycling Strategy that ECF has developed together with a large coalition of stakeholders.