During the COTER commission discussion on the draft opinion "Advancing Europe’s sustainable and connected transport system - a territorial perspective", the ECR Group President and rapporteur Marco Marsilio underlined that transport connectivity is not only an infrastructure issue but a strategic pillar for competitiveness, cohesion and social stability across Europe. “Connectivity is an essential condition for the functioning of the Single Market, for European security and for the social tissue of our territories, including the right to remain for European youth” he stressed. 

"The Strait of Hormuz crisis has highlighted how Europe remains vulnerable to external shocks that directly impact transportation costs and energy supplies. Rising fuel prices and tensions along maritime routes demonstrate that Europe's external dependencies are no longer sustainable. To build a sustainable, competitive and resilient European transport system, we need to scale up production of alternative fuels, in line with technological neutrality, and complete the TEN-T network", President Marsilio stated. 

A central message of the opinion is the need to move beyond a transport vision focused exclusively on major corridors and metropolitan hubs. “Connecting Europe does not mean only linking capitals and large cities,” Marco Marsilio said. “It means guaranteeing accessibility to intermediate cities, inland areas, rural, mountainous and insular regions, which too often remain at the margins of the main European transport networks”.   

In this context, the opinion strongly links transport policy with territorial cohesion and the ‘right to remain’, stressing that no European citizen should be forced to leave their territory due to the lack of reliable connections, efficient public transport or access to major networks.  

“With this opinion, we call for technological neutrality and full attention to territorial specificities,” Marco Marsilio concluded. “Connectivity must ultimately serve people and territories, ensuring that the right to move across Europe goes hand in hand with the right to remain”. 

The opinion will be voted by the COTER Commission in June followed by a vote in the CoR October plenary session.