The European transport sector has a new political leadership. Apostolos Tzitzikostas has been appointed Sustainable Transport & Tourism Commissioner by the Commission’s head, Ursula von der Leyen. The Greek, a member of EPP, will take over the role from Adina Valean and already has a clear set of targets to meet during his office term.

The rail sector has warmly welcomed the freshly appointed Commissioner, expressing its satisfaction regarding the mission points Tzitzikostas will have to deliver. Both UIRR and CER commented that the tasks handed by Von der Leyen to Tzitzikostas largely reflect the needs of the railway sector in this initial stage.

Key targets for rail

It is an EU tradition that every Commissioner-designate receives a mission letter from the Commission’s President, in this case, Von der Leyen, outlining what is expected from them during their service. In this sense, Tzitzikostas has particular prerequisites for his term to determine whether he will be a successful Commissioner. Von der Leyen’s requests are explicit and reflect the rail sector’s agenda on several points.

For instance, the President asked the Commissioner-designate to “accelerate rail freight’ and “work on a Sustainable Transport Investment Plan that” could pave the way for a strategic approach to implementing investments in transport decarbonisation solutions. CER underlined that this could prove positive as rail needs transparent, fair and long-term financing to realise its potential.

On top of that, the Commission’s President asked Tzitzikostas to ensure the completion of the missing TEN-T corridors by 2030 while also strengthening the Single Market for transport services and facilitating relevant investments. Equally important was her request for the continuation of digitalisation attempts in the transport sector, namely the ERTMS roll-out, but also Digital Capacity Management (DCM) and Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) for optimised rail freight operations, as CER points out.

Finally, another critical task for Tzitzikostas will be to reinforce transport security in terms of cybersecurity and critical transport infrastructure to ensure smooth military mobility across the continent.

New term-new era

Undoubtedly, Tzitzikostas takes over one of the most critical and demanding offices within the EU Commission with big targets set ahead, critical not only for the transport sector but also for society. Sustainable transport of cargo and passengers is at the forefront of decarbonisation attempts to ensure a greener future on this planet.

At the same time, the transport market is quite complex, with several policies waiting for implementation and companies navigating a transitional period that also affects their operations and structure. In this sense, Tzitikostas will need to deal with multiple open fronts and find a delicate balance between business and policy on the way to 2030.