Ms Violeta Bulc:

A cháirde, tá an áthas orm a bheith anseo. I hope members understood that greeting. I thank the Chairman and the joint committee for giving me the opportunity to be here as part of my first official visit to Ireland. I come with a very open mind and ready to listen in the spirit of all the dynamics and changes that are taking place in the European Union. I will begin with an overview of what is ongoing in terms of EU transport policy, including the various challenges facing the transport sector.

Before I jump into policy, I will say a few words about something that is close to my heart. I very much regret the losses Ireland experienced in recent days as a result of Hurricane Ophelia. I pay tribute to all those who have been working hard to get transport, power and water services back to normal. Unfortunately, these events will become the new normal. As the effects of climate change are felt everywhere in the world, we will have to get used to these events and prepare plans to respond actively when they occur.

Last month the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, gave his annual state of the union address. He spoke of a Europe that had been through a great deal in recent years, as all of us can confirm. It included terrorism, managing the flow of migrants and refugees, the economic crisis, especially its consequences for the social welfare of citizens, and the British decision to exit the European Union, an issue I will address. If that were not enough, the new political stance of President Trump has created many new opportunities and challenges on a global scale. These challenges which would usually occur over a period of ten years are all part of the reality we have had to deal with in the past two and a half years. They have been a serious test for the European Union and its member states. I hope members share my view that the Union reacted in a mature way and developed the tools we needed to respond to these developments. I am confident that we will be able to deal with anything that arises in the future because we gained each other's trust that we can agree on the most essential elements needed for governance and further sustainable development. We have not solved all of these issues, but we are making progress.

I will address transport priorities which have very much been empowered by the positive mood reflected in the speech of the Commission President. Data collected throughout Europe show that people are much more aware of the benefits of the European Union and much more prepared to re-engage with the spirit of union. Since I took office almost three years ago, I have set out clear priorities for transport which I propose to share with the committee. They are very simple and this is a simple story. European transport is focusing on two core objectives, namely, efficiency and connectivity within the European Union, with neighbouring countries and globally. This is empowered by people-focused legislative standards and all other activities related to transport. We put people's needs in the centre, while at the same time doing whatever is possible to encourage all stakeholders to have a global perspective and be able to use scaleability and create value globally. At the same time, we are focusing on two driving forces, namely, decarbonisation and digitalisation. Decarbonisation is required because transport contributes more than 24% of fossil fuel emissions in the European Union and is the second largest emitter behind energy. If transport grows at its current pace without action being taken, it will become the largest polluter. We are strongly engaged for this reason. I will speak also about what we are doing on the issue of decarbonisation.

The second driving force, digitalisation, is completely reshaping the way in which transport is managed and used. I am certain that we will see dramatic changes in this area in the next ten or 15 years. Mobility will be much different in 2030 or 2040 than it is today. I dare to speculate that there will be many interoperability and multi-modality solutions which will be strongly service oriented and based on the needs of customers in contrast with the current highly static transport sector. None of this will be possible if we do not strongly push for innovation and investment, the two areas where one sees many changes at European Union level. The European Union is engaged in a market oriented approach to innovation in which research and development and research and innovation are becoming two different areas. We are trying to address in a very systemic way all phases of innovation processes and cycles and prove that the European Union is not only a good inventor but also a good innovator in that we know how to market our products and scale them globally.

I am highlighting the issues of decarbonisation, digitalisation and investment, but that does not mean other areas are not important. If members have questions on other key priorities, I will be more than happy to highlight them. As I indicated, decarbonisation is one of our focuses. We paved the way for our plan to address decarbonisation with our decarbonisation strategy which we passed last year. The strategy has thee distinctive pillars, namely, clean vehicles, infrastructure for alternative energies and better organisation of transport. Nine new initiatives will be launched in the area of transport in November. I have joined forces with the Commissioner with responsibility for the Internal Market, Ms Elzbieta Bieñkowska, and the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Mr. Miguel Arias Cañete, to develop a full package for the decarbonisation of road transport that contributes more than 60% of all CO2 emissions in transport and is 92% oil-based. This area, therefore, presents the greatest opportunity to make a difference and we will focus strongly on this particular mode of transport. Members will probably have noted that we are supporting this with new, innovative financial mechanisms and tools to boost the deployment of these initiatives at member state level. Moves are also being made towards greater electrification of the road sector on two levels, namely, boosting the deployment and use of electric vehicles and building the infrastructure required to make the energy available to users of electric cars. Ireland is a good example of a country which is learning lessons in this area. Incredible investments have been made in infrastructure but somehow users did not avail of electric cars. The country is now taking further steps which I hope will work and we are using the case of Ireland to further encourage other member states to take bold steps.

The primary driver of digitalisation is to boost efficiency which contributes directly to decarbonisation. We must create new opportunities, including for employment, seize the moment, create blue oceans and lead globally in this sector.

That also contributes directly to decarbonisation. If we lead globally in the digitalisation segment, we will be able to seize the moment by creating "blue oceans", or new opportunities for new jobs. As I have said, everything started on a new level with the strategy in this sector. We focused mostly on roads in our strategy on co-operative intelligent transport systems, which we put forward last year. We are taking further steps towards autonomous transport mobility solutions that involve connected and autonomous vehicles. Road transport is not the only area in which this is happening. Autonomous ships are emerging. Drones and autonomous airplanes have moved from the conception phase to the testing phase. Autonomous trains are being deployed more and more often. This automation is driving a change and a shift in the mobility sector.

Our real motivation, which goes beyond the infrastructure and the vehicles, is safe, integrated, efficient and clean transport. This is probably something the members of the committee want to hear because I am sure it is close to their hearts. I am concerned about the negative effects of transport, including the socioeconomic costs related to it. Development and prosperity always have other sides which are not so prosperous. We need to address such issues. I will explain what I mean by that. Every year, Europe loses over 25,000 people in road accidents. In addition to those 25,000 fatalities, over 135,000 people are seriously injured. It is estimated that the socioeconomic costs associated with that are over €100 billion per annum. I ask members to imagine what could be done if this money could be used for a positive agenda in areas of the social agenda like schooling. Such investment could boost entrepreneurship and create new opportunities. I invite the committee to pay attention to this aspect of the matter. It is estimated that expenses of €120 billion per annum arise from the health issues caused by noise or air pollution, so we are already on €220 billion per annum from these negative effects. In addition, based on our estimates, congestion costs approximately €1 billion per working day. This brings the negative costs to over €500 billion per annum. That should motivate us.

This is about our citizens, the way we live and our future. I invite the committee to join forces with me very strongly so we can address these kinds of issues. Digitalisation can play a really important role in this regard. Approximately 90% of accidents are caused by human factors. That is why we are pushing for automation. We are moving towards more automated mobility solutions so that the human factor can be excluded from transport, or can at least be limited. I would like to draw attention to some of the exciting things that digitalisation can bring. I have already alluded to seamless ships and seamless traffic. We are now creating the new concept of the so-called urban aviation space. By 2019, we will test for the first time flying cars and drones that can be fully integrated as mobility solutions, especially in urban contexts. This will position the EU in a leading role globally in this segment. I hope that will mean business, jobs and growth for the EU economy.

The last part of the strategy I would like to discuss is investment. We have four different ways of funding transport. First, we continue to support grants to address projects that cannot attract private investors but are of strategic importance to bridge development gaps or boost areas which are recognised as having future opportunities but do not yet have market value. Second, all projects that have a high market value can be financed by loans or by private investors. Third, a guarantee scheme has been provided for at EU level for the first time as part of the Juncker plan, which also provides for the readjustment of legal frameworks and project pipelines, in order to bring private investors and banks on board for riskier projects and to reduce the risk factor of projects that have a strategic value for the EU. I am proud of the entire team because since we started to deploy this model less than three years ago, we have succeeded in bringing on board an additional €230 billion of fresh investment in the EU in areas like infrastructure, small and medium-sized enterprises, research and innovation and research and development. We will continue with this in the next multi-annual financial framework, when it will be an even stronger component of our financing investment model. A fourth way of funding transport, in addition to grants, loans and guarantees, has recently emerged. I refer to the so-called blending mechanism, which has been successfully tested. In order to boost investment even further, especially in the cohesion countries where we need to bridge development gaps even faster, we have introduced a blending mechanism whereby a grant can be topped up under the EU guarantee scheme to lower the risk factor dramatically before banks or institutional private investors are brought on board. In our first call, when we dedicated €1 billion to this kind of blending, these high-level projects were over-subscribed to the tune of €1.6 billion. That is a great encouragement to continue with this.

Additional investments are happening through dedicated innovative financial tools. When European cities recognised that they needed support to decarbonise public transport more quickly and asked for help to move towards decarbonised buses, together with the European Investment Bank we created in record time - less than a year - a financial mechanism or tool that is now used to co-finance this kind of shift in cities. I am glad that 63 cities have already joined this initiative. We already have the first actual deployment. This is moving fast. Believe it or not, even the EU can take steps quickly when it is recognised that there are opportunities to create European value.

Members will be familiar with the connecting Europe facility, or CEF, model that is used to support core network corridors. I am glad that Ireland has had some very successful deployment of this model. It was used well in the Dublin Port project and in the Dublin city centre railway signalling project. A total of 19 projects have been approved, which is a good number. Ireland is using its opportunities well. Some €756 million has been dedicated to these projects and this has resulted in €3.2 billion of investment by capitalising on the market. I think that is a fairly good amount. I hope Ireland will continue with that. The CEF model will continue to support Irish initiatives.

I appreciate that I have spoken at length, but I would like to say a couple of words about Brexit before I conclude and the discussion is opened. I would like to make it clear that Ireland is not alone in this.

The European Union is engaging seriously with all stakeholders in Ireland to address the preparations for and the different consequences of Brexit when it happens. It is confusing because we do not have clear signals as to what, when and how things will evolve, but we have the power to be well prepared. I often say, "Let us behave as if nothing will happen but let us be ready for a hard Brexit that will happen tomorrow". In this spirit I invite all business stakeholders to engage with the European Union and to start creating options that we can discuss seriously. There is no point in spreading fear, uncertainty or uneasiness among the Irish population. If we engage in the creation of constructive solutions, then we will feel better because we will feel like we are in charge. The European Union cannot create these options without the input of Ireland. I invite members to engage in a constructive relationship with all of us.

I am very much aware of what the transport sector means for an island country with an open but small economy such as Ireland. As Transport Commissioner, we are trying to find solutions to the transport challenges in the context of North-South co-operation. Again I invite the stakeholders to start planning, to prepare contingency plans and come up with proposals for investments that will be required in order to change the capacity of some of the ports, especially to ensure that connectivity with mainland Europe will remain at the highest possible level based on need.

What will happen to hauliers on the Border with the North? We discussed this issue with them and I will prepare plans and run simulations so that we can really see the alternative routes that hauliers can take. We will need to discuss this further today, not on the day that Brexit happens. There is a need to stimulate widespread discussions on options to deal with the problems that will emerge and then I invite members to forward the solutions they believe can work to me at the Commission. Then let us work together on the options that are more likely to succeed.

A major concern is what will happen to the current policy of the Single European Sky and the hundreds of flights daily. I will not comment on the statement made by the British Minister but this is one of the hottest topics. I can assure members that after the three key elements of borders, finances and people, transport comes fourth in importance.

We meet weekly with the key negotiator, Mr. Barnier, and share our concerns and the emerging solutions that can be put on the table when he starts negotiating. That is why it is so important that Ireland acts now and works with the Commission so that we can prepare options for Mr. Barnier in order that he will know what he can juggle. Ireland's welfare is the most important part of the Brexit negotiations. Of course, the outcome of Brexit is important for all member states, but Ireland is the country most affected. If Ireland can come up with good solutions that work, it means the solutions will work for others as well. I ask members to come on board.

Tomorrow Brexit will be on the agenda of the European Council meeting and the negotiations will continue in the months to come. I know the outcome of the negotiations on Brexit is uncertain but the only certainty is that the date of Brexit, 30 March 2019 is approaching quickly. It is only months away. Brexit will bring a new reality and I hope Ireland is prepared for it. Knowing Irish history, I am aware that Ireland has gone through a number of changes, but somehow has found the internal strength to overcome them. Now Ireland has the 26 other member states behind it. Ireland needs to show how it wants to co-operate with the rest of the member states in the European Union and must try to bridge the challenges that it will face. I am not going to say it will be easy. I am not going to say it will be trivial because it will not be that easy but together we can bridge the challenges. Believe me, the country that I was born in does not exist anymore. The country I know best is doing very well now, in spite of the fact that overnight it lost 70% of all market share when the changes happened.

Let me repeat that Ireland has the advantage of support from the other 26 member states who really care about Ireland. Let us be active and be in preparatory mode and try to anticipate as much as we can. Let me highlight that the Government has dedicated €300 million scheme for start ups to help them to readjust their businesses to the new conditions. That is a good move by Ireland. We should look for other solutions in the same spirit.

Life always provides challenges and once you win the challenge, it is incredible how many new opportunities arise. Please do not be discouraged. It is just another step in the history of the European Continent.