Implementation of the Green Deal is, to a great extent, based on the ‘carrot and stick’ principle. The ‘stick’ part – climate commitments, regulations, and deadlines – is dominant, while the ‘carrot’ part – incentives and European Union funding – is, unfortunately, minimal. This dynamic will cause economic and social damage in many countries because the required investments in greening their transport sector will be disproportionately large.
The majority of Green Deal legislative texts have now been finalised. It is apparent that targets and obligations will be uniformly applied to the member states, regardless of their geographical, demographic and economic situations.
Many initiatives, such as the shift to electric cars and the mandatory deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure – particularly electric vehicle charging points–- totally disregard the market and public demand capacities in central and eastern European countries, where the electro-mobility market is still at an early stage of development, and both the demand for electric vehicles and the purchasing power of the population is low. Also, the average traffic density on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) differs significantly in different parts of the EU. It is much lower in peripheral countries. Therefore, private investment in this infrastructure is not expected, as there is simply no business case.
Consequently, the costs will have to be covered by public subsidies. The more ambitious the timeline for implementing the Green Deal, the greater the share of public funds required for these ambitions.
However, budgetary capacities of member states are not equal. The costs will also be directly borne by EU citizens, transport consumers and users. With fuel prices set to increase due to the inclusion of road transport in the EU emissions trading system (ETS) from 2027, and with technological alternatives out of their reach, less wealthy EU citizens will be left behind during the transition. Many people will find it harder to preserve their fundamental mobility rights and will be forced to change their mobility patterns.
Often, it feels as if the EU desperately wants to be a global leader purely for the sake of leading. Europe is striving to become the first continent to be climate neutral by 2050. If Europe were a sprinting athlete, it would want to be the first to reach the finish line but would have no regard for the state of its health: “To be winner at any cost, regardless of anything, even if barely alive!”
It is apparent that [Green Deal] targets and obligations will be uniformly applied to the member states, regardless of their geographical, demographic and economic situations
The same is true across industry and transport sectors, too. Therefore, the whole Green Deal must be revised. The transport sector and car manufacturing industry, along with other industry sectors, must remain efficient and globally competitive while undergoing decarbonisation. High and binding alternative energy infrastructure requirements should only cover the areas where people and goods actually move, in urban areas and main road arteries of the TEN-T network with the highest traffic intensity. And users, while benefitting from digitalised and modernised transport systems, should be able to retain their mobility.