We are happy to kick-off 2018 with a great advocacy success story from our French member FUB-Fédération Française des Usagers de la Bicyclette! Their dedicated work on the Parlons Vélo Campaign was acknowledged by the French Minister of Transportation who announced a new ambitious cycling plan to be implemented in cooperation with several other Ministries.

On Tuesday, 20 September 2017, the French government launched a National Mobility Forum, called les Assises Nationales de la Mobilité. The forum lasted three months and gave the opportunity to the main stakeholders (industry, civil society, institutions, NGOs), to share their opinion on the future of mobility in France. Citizens were also invited to engage in discussions through their participation in public meetings and an interactive internet platform.

During this important consultation, FUB actively defended its propositions:

• Create a national fund for cycling to finance projects in pilot-cities to resolve urban cut-offs 
• Mandatory bike education in schools
• Tax incentives (cycling allowance and incentives for buying pedelecs)
   

These propositions were already available online in early 2017 as part of the Parlons Vélo Campaign - Let’s talk about bicycle- www.parlons-velo.fr 

In her closing speech of the Mobility Forum, Elisabeth Borne, French Minister of Transportation, announced a new ambitious cycling plan to be implemented in cooperation with several other Ministries. She stressed that cycling was the most discussed topic during the debates and specifically mentioned  FUB’s "Parlons vélo Campaign with the French Cycling Barometer", the French edition of our German member ADFC's Fahrrad Klimat Test.  

You can read the speech of the Minister of Transportation, Elisabeth Borne, below: 

In order to respond to the desire for a cleaner and more sustainable mobility, we need an effective policy in favor of cycling. Once we realize that 75% of daily trips to work are  less than 5 km long, we must stop looking at bicycles in a condescending way […] 

There is a true request from our fellow citizens for a cultural change on this matter. The success of the French Cycling Barometer survey launched during the National Mobility Forum sent a strong signal, with more than 100 000 answers received. Cycling was also the most discussed subject during our public meetings.

Our national strategy for transportation and mobility will include a national cycling plan which will cover all the related topics:  public health, infrastructure, education, taxation…Of course, I am preparing this plan in collaboration with my colleagues, Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of Education (with whom we have seen major education related topics), Agnes Buzyn Minister of Health (it is also a very important topic for the public health) and Laura Flessel, Minister of Sports, (who is also very engaged with this subject).

FUB has been a beneficiary of the ECF’s Leadership Programme  when the groundwork for this successful campaign was developed. The Leadership Programme is fully funded by the ECF Cycling Industry Club members via their yearly donations and it allows national cyclists’ associations to get funds, support and training to bring their national campaigning and advocacy to a professional level.

ECF would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our French member on their exciting advocacy achievement!