The Opinion of the Committee of the Regions upon the “Green Paper: Towards a New Culture for Urban Mobility”, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, in July 7th. In this Opinion, the Committee welcomes the EU's commitment to continuing its efforts to raise the competitiveness of the European economy as well as to tackling sustainability and climate change.

In the European Union, over 60% of the population lives in urban areas. Just under 85% of the EU's gross domestic product is created in urban areas. Towns and cities are the drivers of the European economy. They attract investment and jobs. They are essential to the smooth functioning of the economy.

Throughout Europe, increased traffic in town and city centres has resulted in chronic congestion, with the many adverse consequences that this entails in terms of delays and pollution. Every year nearly 100 billion euros, or 1% of the EU's GDP, are lost to the European economy as a result of this phenomenon.

For this reason in September 2007, the Commission's DG of Transport and Energy published a working document and opened a public consultation in the preparation of the Green Paper on urban mobility.

In this process of public consultation, the Committee of the Regions points out that the Green Paper is timely as additional resources at all levels will be necessary to tackle the problems. The EU already spends significant resources on mobility and transport issues through TEN -T and also importantly for urban areas through the Convergence Regions under the structural funds.

Cities are an important and integral component of transport networks since they are hubs where different modes come together and where journeys usually start and end. For this reason transport in cities must be given the same attention as transport networks.

In the process to adopt the text of this Green Paper, the Committee makes the following recommendations:

• Calls for coordinated action to effectively tackle the problems of congestion and pollution affecting all European towns and cities. Such action should be underpinned by an integrated approach to the issues involved, with the EU playing a significant role, while at the same time leaving local and regional authorities with control over the practical solutions to be adopted;
• Asks the EU to encourage local and regional authorities to develop long-term mobility plans based on a partnership between towns and cities and their respective conurbations, in order to find solutions adapted to local circumstances (parking at the entrances to cities, development of cleaner transport modes, optimised public transport etc.) These mobility plans could include Clear Zones (i.e. areas with low levels of congestion and pollution), thus also giving priority to investment to support them;
• Recognises the quantum of investment funding needed, proposes that these mobility plans be underpinned by broad-based partnerships, also involving the private sector, and urges the EU, working in collaboration with the EIB, to develop innovative financial instruments to fund the requisite infrastructure and cleaner technology;
• Calls for an EU-level reporting mechanism to be established in order to report back on progress. This process should be started with an EU-funded benchmark study looking at cities across the EU and their approaches to meeting these challenges.

In the process of public consultation, the European Economic and Social Committee EESC), also published in May 29th. the Opinion over the text. EESC hosted in June 16th the launching conference of the research project “MOVE TOGETHER", financed under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for RTD and co-organised with the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS, Italy).