ELP 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY COCKTAIL ‘Last mile to the next European Elections’
Time and place:
| Date: | 05 September 2018 |
| Time: | 18.30 |
| Place: | Members’ Salon of the European Parliament |
BRUSSELS, 5 September 2018 – Today the ELP celebrated its 5-Year Anniversary with around 40 EU policymakers and industry stakeholders in the European Parliament. Together with representatives from the Commission, European Parliament and academia the ELP had the chance to take stock of the work accomplished and discuss what has been achieved in this legislative term and, moreover, what lies ahead in the upcoming months prior to the elections of the European Parliament in May 2019.
Five years ago the European Logistics Platform (ELP) was created to bring together policy makers and industry stakeholders to collectively tackle the challenges of the logistics sector. Through the organization of many debates in- and outside of the European Parliament but always with the support of the MEPs of the ELP Advisory Board, the ELP has promoted a better understanding of logistics and of its importance for the growth and competitiveness of the EU.
“Transport today is about multimodality and logistics brings it all together”, Henrik Hololei, Director General of DG MOVE, rightly pointed out that raising the political profile of transport and logistics has been one of the major priorities in the recent years, noticeable also through the key EU funding instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). However, he admitted that the challenge of modal shift remains reality and still needs to be tackled in order to reach the EU 2030 climate targets. Furthermore, he urged the European Parliament to conclude its reports and find common ground prior to the new elections.
Pavel Telicka, Member of the European Parliament (ALDE) and Transport Committee, complimented this European Commission for being a ‘realistic Commission’, focussing on existing bottlenecks and finding the best solutions. He highlighted the importance of the ELP’s work: “Logistics is a sector serving other sectors, creating hurdles in logistics will lead to problems for the entire industry”. With a note of caution, Telicka warned that any inward looking policy of Member States will harm the internal market and hamper businesses: “Our intention must be to avoid unilateral measures and look for European solutions”.
Thierry Vanelslander, Research Professor Transport, Logistics and Ports, University of Antwerp, highlighted the importance of investments in infrastructure, digitalisation, the need to integrate decarbonisation and transport policies and acceptance of pricing in European transport policy. He thought that in all these areas significant progress has been made over the last 10 years.
The Anniversary Cocktail event was moderated by Nicolette van der Jagt, Chair of the ELP, who emphasised the ELP’s role in showcasing practical experiences and increasing awareness on the importance of logistics in the European Parliament. She explained: “The ELP seeks to facilitate open debate and feed into EU policy initiatives aimed at creating a more holistic approach to logistics and supply chain issues in Europe”. In addressing the current and future challenges for the logistics sector, she noted “Today, there are even other challenges such as trade barriers and protectionism, new threats from trade policies, Brexit, the challenge for customs and finding the right work force. So, as the European Logistics Platform, we have not exhausted our agenda, instead it is getting longer and longer”.
The press release is available here.
The European Logistics Platform consists of more than twenty industry stakeholders representing a wide variety of actors involved in logistics and supply chains across Europe: ACEA, AMAZON, BDL, CER, CLECAT, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post DHL Group, duisport, ECG, ECSLA, ERFA, ESC, FEPORT, FERRMED, FTA, Goodyear Dunlop Tires, Hutchison Whampoa, IRU, Michelin, Nordic Logistics Association, P&G, Port of Rotterdam, RFG, Transport en Logistiek Nederland, UIRR, Volvo.
