Paper Titles & Abstracts

Nowadays it is widely recognized that integration of environmental policy into the EU's Common Transport Policy is crucial because of the direct negative effects of the activities of this sector on the environment. The transport sector is one of the largest energy consuming sectors in the EU and is responsible for 34% of the final energy consumption, with road and air transport modes being the biggest energy consumers. This use of energy is translated in the emission of greenhouse gasses. Unfortunately, transport is the only sector of the economy where emissions are predicted to increase even further in the future. The action proposed by the Commission to green transport has three tiers, namely- Promotion of use of cleaner transport by stimulation of modal shift (from road to rail). - Internalization of external cost of transport. - Application of the ETS (Emission Trading Scheme) to the transport sector. A controversial subject, and though the aviation sector as the only transport sector was finally included in the ETS by Directive 2008/101/EC, the application of this Directive will now, on unofficial request of the EU commissioner for climate change, be suspended.The paper will discuss all above subjects in detail from a legal prospective. This legal prospective is important, especially for new and aspiring Member States of the EU, as they will have to bring their laws in line with the EU acquis. The transport sector, especially in these countries, has a big potential to increase the sustainability of the economy, but it is not surprising that where the EU barely trudges, these countries unfortunately do not even budge.