With more than 20 transport Ministers and Secretary of States sitting in one room and discussing cycling, this coming Wednesday is a big milestone, if not historic event, for cycling advocacy and making ECF’s Vision of doubling cycling in Europe come true. For unlocking the many benefits that doubling cycling would bring to society, environment and business alike, it must be recognized as a transport mode in its own right by all government levels. Therefore this week’s informal Council meeting of the Transport ministers in Luxembourg could  not be better timed.

For ECF, the creation of an EU-wide policy framework for cycling has been a long-standing ambition. This summit can be regarded as a climax in our efforts of careful lobbying and positioning cycling at the European scale so that at one time we have the support of the EU Parliament, the Transport Commissioner and now enough enthusiastic member states to lift cycling to this next level. Key steps have included the development of the pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion under the umbrella of WHO and UNECE, the initiating of “Cycling Forum Europe”, ECF’s 6bn campaign, establishing the cycling economy and building the evidence as a growth and job engine, together with our members, the Bicycle Industry and many other stakeholders.

On behalf of the cycling community in Europe Dr Bernhard Ensink, ECF Secretary General, will be telling the ministers that “Cycling delivers”; In terms of addressing the many transport challenges Europe is facing; in creating 650,000 jobs with the promise of 400,000 more; in offering people realistic options in switching from car use to e-cycling for distances up to 20km and beyond. More than 1.1 million electric bikes hit the road in 2014 in Europe; new bicycle sharing schemes are being deployed, expanded or upgraded with electric bikes; and numerous cycle highway projects see the light in many cities and regions. This is not just a Dutch or Danish success story, it happens across Europe!

From a policy point of view, the highlight of this informal Council meeting will be the discussion and hopefully adoption of the “Declaration of Luxembourg”. This policy document may set the framework for European cycling policy for the next few years. And then there will be a lot of bicycles of all sorts of kinds. Not just to look at but also to try them out on a test track and during a joint ministerial ‘bike parade’ after the meeting. 200 million EU citizens already cycle, 50 million every day. ECF’s vision is to double cycling in Europe over the next 10 years. For that to happen, every political level and stakeholder has to do its bid. By 2025 we expect we will look back at October 7, 2015 as an historic day.

Detailed agenda here