After a successful campaign last December, we managed to get the European Parliament to vote in favour of EuroVelo being mentioned into the biggest EU transport infrastructure program. Last week this proposition was validated by the other EU institutions.

Last week it was announced that an agreement had been reached between the three main European Institutions – the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament – on proposals to transform the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).  The good news is that the agreed wording refers to cycling and EuroVelo for the first time.

The TEN-T Network has its own funding stream worth billions of Euros to cover the transport links strategically important to Europe.   There had actually been no reference made to cycling when the European Commission had first published its original proposals back in 2011 or indeed in the initial report prepared by the European Parliament a year later. 

All that changed following a successful campaign run by the ECF, its members and the National EuroVelo Coordination Centres and Coordinators in the lead up to the crucial vote in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee in December 2012.  The successful campaign mobilised the cycling community across the continent whose voice was heard when the Committee voted in favour of a compromise amendment that made reference to incorporating cycling, tourism and EuroVelo infrastructure as complementary measures to the approved TEN-T network.  This amendment formed part of the regulations that were agreed by the representatives of the three institutions last week. 

The agreed wording is some way short of the ECF’s stated aim to have the entire EuroVelo network recognised as part of the TEN-T, which the ECF will continue to lobby for, nevertheless, the inclusion of references to cycling and EuroVelo for the first time represents a big step forward.

Now that the European institutions have reached an agreement, the next major step is for the regulations to be formally approved by the European Parliament’s Plenary and the Council of the European Union, which they are expected to do later in the year. We will of course let you know when this is done.

About the Author

Ed Lancaster, ECF Policy Officer forRegional Policy & Cycling Tourism -For the past 7 years, Ed has worked as a Town Planner for various local authorities in South East England and he has a Master’s degree in Town Planning from the University of Westminster. In his last role he was responsible for transport policies and strategy, as well as managing numerous cycling-related projects (e.g. providing new cycle infrastructure and running promotional activities).