ECF

This strategy document has been put together by an expert group with 27 members, representing 15 governmental and non-governmental organisations, academia and business representations (see list below) which met three times in Brussels. In addition, input was collected over 8 months (September 2016 – May 2017) from a wider set of stakeholders: 7 public events/workshops (250 persons), a survey (more than 630 persons and organisations from 37 countries) and an online consultation (60 individuals and organisations) – approximately a 1,000 individuals were involved in the process of formulating the strategy.

The recommendations of the own-initiative report of the Committee of the Regions ‘An EU Roadmap for Cycling’ were also taken into account.

The highlight of our campaign was June 16 2017, when at the last day of the Velo-city Conference in Arnhem-Nijmegen, the Netherlands, we handed over our document to EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc with the message to include it in the Commission Work Programme 2018 or subsequent initiatives.

On the same day, we sent an open letter  to EU Commission President Juncker, also calling for the inclusion of the EU Cycling Strategy in the Commission Work Programme 2018 or subsequent initiatives. This letter was endorsed by cities, regions, countries, other elected representatives, businesses, NGOs, academics and research institutions.

Two weeks later on June 28, we introduced the EU Cycling Strategy in Brussels at the Big Bike Event jointly organized by the transport teams of the Permanent Representations of the three Benelux countries to the EU. The Commission replied positively to our call by stating its will to land the cycling strategy as part of the 2018 initiative on multimodality.

Cycling is of substantial added value to EU policy goals considering low emission mobility, growth and jobs in a thriving bicycle manufacturing and cycling tourism industry, multimodality and integration in the Intelligent Transport System, a level playing field for cycling alongside other transport modes, a focus on urban mobility, improved infrastructure and road safety, and the promotion of physical activity and health. 

We want to thank all interested stakeholders for their comments during the Public Consultation on the EU Cycling Strategy Recommendations (previously ‘Draft Blueprint for an EU Cycling Strategy) during the Public Consultation in March 2017. 
All comments have been extensively discussed amongst the experts at the third Expert Group meeting on April 25th 2017, where was decided to what extend comments are to be included in the EU Cycling Strategy.

The results of the Public Consultation are found here.