Rail Supply Industry ‘ideal partner’ for new EU plan to juggle competitiveness and climate in Ursula von der Leyen’s second term

Rail Supply Industry 'ideal partner' for new EU plan to juggle competitiveness and climate in Ursula von der Leyen's second term

The EU's brand new plan to improve how Europe does business at home and globally, while also tackling climate change through a Clean Industrial Deal has an 'ideal partner' - the European Rail Supply Industry.

UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe today congratulates Ursula von der Leyen on her reappointment as EU Commission President on behalf of the industry, extending an invitation to her cabinet to discuss how the European Rail Supply Industry can help lead on boosting European productivity and slashing emissions.

The European Rail Supply Industry, which represents an industry worth €45.8bn and 650,000 jobs, is an agile and modern industry ready for European competitiveness reform, which would free up business to do what it does best - create jobs, products and prosperity for Europe.

Suggested improvements for boosting competitiveness include reducing EU reporting requirements for business, enforcing a level-playing field for trade with non-EU actors and making it easier for the development of technological advances such as AI for European companies.

By implementing such changes, there is the chance to radically improve productivity, enable innovation and create jobs in an industry that, when on the rails, only produces 0.4% of Europe's total transport greenhouse gas emissions.

Already established and representing major providers of net-zero mobility solutions, UNIFE is ready to contribute to finer details of the Clean Industrial Deal, which if delivered, has the ability to reshape Europe as the true home of clean industry and cutting edge innovation.

Further to this, streamlining rail regulations and the harmonising of rules in co-operation with Member States, has the ability to end the 'patchwork' of rail networks and create a truly unified 'Single European Railway Area', which will allow more passengers to make cross-border journeys.

In conjunction with key industrial reforms, investment in rail via EU funding has the ability to renew European regions which increasingly feel deprived of services and job opportunities, while also driving the next generation of innovative mobility technology to build and export to the world.

UNIFE will spend the rest of 2024 outlining growth opportunities via its bi-annual World Rail Market Study, while also actively building coalitions with interested parties motivated to improve business competitiveness, reduce emissions and drive investment in rail.

Quotes attributable to UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe

"Congratulations to President Ursula von der Leyen, who delivered in her first term on prioritising climate action. Now is the time to back that up by delivering on competitiveness, so we can further slash transport emissions."

"We don't buy into divisive rhetoric over Europe's priorities - competitiveness and climate action go hand in hand, and one does not have to be at the expense of the other. A Clean Industrial Deal is the right way to be looking at these dual problems."

"With the right job-creating rules and settings in place, our industry has the ability to transform European transport networks and to breathe life back into the industrial ecosystem across many supply chains."

For more information contact:

Andrei Ciufu
Head of Communications
[email protected]
+32 2 626 12 64

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