Towards an integrated, technology-ledand user-friendly system

Task 2. Render the text in English.

Task 1. Read the text about transport in EU and define its main idea.

Семестр (контрольный срок 2)

Task 3. Retell the text in English (speak for 1 minute).

Task 2. Finish the statement according to the text read.

1) Transportation activities are important for the development of urban areas to international trade and have resulted in growing levels of motorization and congestion. So…

a) they support increasing mobility demands for passengers and freight.

b) the issue of transportation and the environment is paradoxical.

c) the transportation sector is global.

d) the environmental impact of transportation is negative.

2) Transportation activities are a dominant factor behind the emission of most pollutants and thus their impacts on the environment…

a) is generally clear and well understood.

b) often misunderstood and difficult to establish.

c) can be direct, indirect and cumulative.

d) people take into account.

3) Concept of sustainability requires a deep understanding of the influence between the physical environment and transport infrastructures. Thus…

a) the transportation sector is often subsidized by the public sector.

b) the main factors considered in the physical environment are geographical location, topography, geological structure, climate.

c) there is a risk that regulations will not be effectively complied to.

d) the relationships between transport and the environment are multidimensional.

Transport is the backbone of the European economy, accounting for about 7 % of GDP and more than 5 % of total employment in the EU. As a network industry, transport requires elements such as infrastructures, vehicles, equipment, ICT applications and operational procedures to interact smoothly in order to move people and goods efficiently.

Today transport is at a transition point. My two predecessors, Vice-Presidents Karel Van Miert and Loyola de Palacio, launched in 1992 and 2001 respectively two successful 10-year policy programmes for the competitiveness and sustainability of the European transport system. Today, our skies, seas, railways, waterways and roads are safer, transport services are cheaper and more efficient, passenger rights have been strengthened and transport workers enjoy a higher level of social protection.

Now we are facing new and formidable challenges: science is urging us to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, growing demand and declining production are pushing oil prices to unprecedented heights, and congestion is approaching intolerable levels in many cities, airports and ports. The scope of these challenges is such that a profound transformation in the transport system will be required in the coming decades. Yet resources available to meet these challenges are limited by the economic crisis in the short run and in the longer term by the ageing of our population.

The communication looks at this transformation. It is both a strategy document — defining a vision for the future of transport — and a consultation document aiming at collecting views on how to translate this vision into concrete policy actions. I strongly believe that meeting the future challenges will require focusing on new technologies and on the integration of the different transport modes into a single system — all this in a more integrated internal market in which competition is fully granted. It also implies that the needs of transport users and workers are kept at the centre of policymaking. Europe is a world leader in many transport domains and can make, by further developing its strengths, a positive contribution to solving global concerns.

I hope that readers of this document will appreciate the importance and the difficulty of the task ahead and will make a contribution to our reflections. The responses to the consultation will help the Commission in preparing, in 2010, a new White Paper that will outline the European transport policy for the next decade.

Antonio Tajani,

Vice-President of the European Commission,

Commissioner for Transport

Дата добавления: 2015-07-02