ECR Group President Marco Marsilio has today been appointed rapporteur for the opinion "Advancing Europe's sustainable and connected transport system – a territorial perspective". Responding to two different European Commission communications, the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan, and Connecting Europe through High-Speed Rail, President Marsilio described the opinion as "strategic for the future of transport in Europe, with a significant focus on the territorial dimension". 

The Abruzzo President stated that railway, cars, maritime and air transport will be aspects covered by this opinion with his focus on listening to the voices of the sector and improving citizens' lives".

President Marsilio brought the example of his own region of Abruzzo, where the airport of Pescara has achieved "increasingly significant results and could become a valid alternative to flights to Rome for connecting central Italy", benefitting from European funds. Additionally,  the Rome-Pescara railway line is among the projects that should be included in the European transport investment plan as the President of the ECR Group highlighted how both are "examples" of how European funds, when allocated and managed well, have had and can have a more "positive impact on regional development and growth".

Marsilio concluded by referring to the importance of the principle of technological neutrality: "as we are doing so for the automotive sector, we will continue our approach with pragmatism for other means of transport for a truly sustainable transition that takes alternative fuels into account and has technological neutrality at its core."