On 10 September 2019, Ursula Von der Leyen, the President-elect of the European Commission, announced the names of the Commissioners-designates as well as their respective portfolios. Transport has been assigned to the Romanian nominee, Rovana Plumb, who is currently Vice President of the S&D group in the EP. In the coming weeks, Ms Plumb will go through a hearing before the EP Committee on Transport and Tourism, which will be the basis for MEPs to decide if to confirm or not her nomination.
Transport workers in Europe have been very loud in demanding fair transport. In March this year, thousands of workers from all EU countries have mobilised and marched through the streets of Brussels asking for concrete measures to stop social dumping and improve working conditions in all transport modes,.
“Transport workers are very frustrated! They ensure the mobility of people and goods, they make Europe move and yet they pay the price. Fair transport is in everybody’s interest. The ETF has put some concrete and constructive proposals on the table, and the new Commission has now a chance to insert those into their political priorities. We are sending a wake-up call, it is high time to act!” declared Frank Moreels, ETF President.
Livia Spera, the ETF General Secretary, added: “Our appeal to the MEPs is to make sure that the new Commissioner has a strong vision for Fair Transport and the right skills and competence to achieve it, to deter social dumping and to take the necessary measures to improve working conditions. The sector has many challenges to tackle, which impact 11 million transport workers in the EU, and for this we need a sound plan, she concluded.”
For more information, please contact the ETF Secretariat, e-mail: etf@etf-europe.org, tel. +32 2 285 46 60.