On Wednesday October 22, the European Parliament approved the Juncker team as the new European Commission for the next five years. Among them is Violeta Bulc from Slovenia as the new Transport Commissioner. During her parliamentary hearing, she declared her devotion to cycling. ECF is ready to cooperate with her on how this commitment can be translated into policy.

New Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc stated at her hearing on 20 October that she is a very devoted cyclist. Photo: European Parliament - Flickr

On October 20 during the hearing the Commissioner-designate for Transport, the European Cyclists’ Federation was pleased to hear Ms. Violeta Bulc declaring:

“I am a very devoted cyclist. If you go to Slovenia you will see ministers leaving the meetings with very nice big cars, and I am at the back cycling my bike. I just love it. I go to work by bike, and I have seen what the Cohesion Funds and Structural Funds have done for cycling, for example in my own country. We now have some incredible cycling routes, and we use them really well. So I hope that this culture of cycling will be part of our culture as well.”

One of the first priorities of the new Commission is to adopt a €300 billion investment fund within the next weeks to promote growth and create new jobs. ECF demands that investments in cycling should be an integral part of this investment fund as no other transport mode offers such a high benefit-cost ratio. Earmarking money in cycling projects is maximizing tax-payers money!

To give long-term support to cycling, ECF will approach the new Transport Commissioner with the recommendation to develop an EU Action Plan on Cycling. Our organisation has requested a personal meeting with the former Slovenian minister to discuss this issues in further detail. Ms Bulc will also be invited to present her vision on cycling during the next Velo-city conference in June 2015 in Nantes.

Violeta Bulc adheres to the Liberal (ALDE) group. Before becoming a European Commissioner, she has been a telecom entrepreneur and has briefly served as minister in the Slovenian national government. Bulc replaced Maroš Šefčovič who was initially in the running for the position of Commissioner for Transport. As the first Slovenian candidate, Alenka Bratusek, was rejected by the Parliament, Juncker reshuffled his team, promoting Šefčovič to Vice-President for Energy Union.