Onorevoli Senatori, Onorevoli Membri del Parlamento,
It is a great honour to address you today in Rome,
the heart of Italian democracy
and a city whose history and resilience continue to inspire the entire European continent.
Italys strategic location,
cultural richness
and industrial excellence
make it a key actor
in the future of European transport and tourism.
As Commissioner, I greatly value Italys contribution and leadership in both sectors.
So thank you for the invitation to address you today.
I welcome the opportunity to update you on our recent and ongoing work
to make transport more competitive, resilient, sustainable, smarter and safer.
And of course I look forward to hearing your thoughts, concerns and proposals for the road ahead.
Let me begin with one major initiative on my agenda,
the launch of our Action Plan for High-Speed Rail,
which I am looking forward to presenting it soon.
As you know, the revised trans-European transport network regulation,
already provides for high-speed rail infrastructure
connecting Europes main major urban centres.
It requires that longer distance passenger trains on these lines
must be able to travel at 160 km/h,
with peaks at 200-300 km/h.
The Action Plan will encouragee Member States where possible,
to go beyond this minimum requirement,
and aim for speeds above 250 km/h.
It will also tackle missing links, and operational and technical barriers
that are still holding back the roll-out of high-speed rail.
Italy is already a model of success.
Your high-speed rail infrastructure and services are truly impressive.
Competition has clearly led to better and more frequent services at affordable prices,
making rail a real competitor to air and car travel for inter-city trips.
Were also working on two key initiatives:
an Industrial Maritime Strategy and a Ports Strategy.
Italian shipbuilders are global leaders
not only in cruise ships and luxury yachts,
but also in high-quality commercial vessels.
They combine craftmanship, innovation and design.
And your excellent reputation continues to attract orders from around the world:
between 2013 and 2022, Italy built 36% of the worlds cruise ships and every second super yacht.
And then theres your ports.
Messina, Regio di Calabria, and Napoli
are among the EUs top 5 in terms of port calls.
Last year alone, more than 80 million passengers and 500 million tonnes of goods
passed through Italian ports.
Italy is a maritime power
and this is crucial to the resilience of the entire European economy, critical supply chains and security.
But we must also address vulnerabilities,
from global competition to security levels.
Our Industrial Maritime Strategy will set policy goals and concret actions
to strengthen Europes industrial and technological base and its wider value chain,
including shipping and inland navigation.
It will also seek to foster domestic manufacturing capabilities and know-how.
We are working onon research, innovation,
investment and financing,
reskilling and upskilling,
workforce diversification,
and levelling out the global playing field.
We are also considering options to support zero and low-emission vessels for short-sea shipping links.
And we always have in mind that all our measures
must avoid market distortions,
while fostering innovation,
promoting sustainability,
and strengthening both industrial value chain resilience and strategic autonomy.
Our Ports Strategy will be equally broad in scope.
It will focus on encompassing security,
economic independence,
sustainability and social aspects,
funding,
innovation,
and the role of ports in the energy transition,
along with many more.
But the Strategys key focus will be competitiveness.
Both strategies will link to other key initiatives,
such as the Internal Security Strategy,
the Defence Strategy,
the Oceans pact,
and the Defence Strategy and Subsea Cable Security Action Plan,
confirming the vital role that European shipbuilding and ports play
within our broader EU policy agenda.
For both strategies, we will soon be asking for input.
And I am particularly keen to hear about actions
that could benefit the EU industrial maritime base and the wider ecosystem.
Italian experiences will feed directly into this process.
Your state aid schemes for clean ships and vessel upgrades
are examples of good practice.
Honourable members of the Parliament
Our Maritime Strategy builds on the Industrial Action Plan for the Automotive Industry
that I presented in March.
This action plan aims to ensure
that Europes carmakers, suppliers and related service sectors,
remain innovative, competitive, and firmly anchored in Europe.
Implement is already underway.
We have increased flexibility for the CO2 standards target.
Instead of compliance by 2025,
companies will exceptionally get three years – 2025, 2026 and 2027 combined,
to comply.
We have also proposed using the European Globalisation Fund
to support financially workers and companies,
in anticipation of restructurings..
And of course, I want to express my solidarity
with those worried for their jobs
in Bari, Torino and other parts of Europe.
We are also stepping up support for the battery value chain,
and in March, the Commission selected 47 strategic projects
to boost European raw material capacities.
Soon we will begin reviewing specific policy measures,
like the CO2 standards,
the Emissions Trading System
and the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation.
We are already accelerating our work here.
Let me know turn to Road Safety.
I remain fully committed
to the target of halving the number of road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
In April I presented new measures on vehicles roadworthiness,
and we are moving forward with legislative proposals on cross-border enforcement and driving licences.
Unfortunately, Italy stillrecords more road deaths per capita than the EU average.
But I welcome the important reform of your Highway Code,
and the new rules on road safety adopted last year.
I also look forward to your mid-term evaluation of Italys road safety plan this autumn.
At EU level, we will continue to work closely with national authorities to share best practices.
It is one of the most effective tools we have
and I encourage every Member State
to take advantage of it.
Now turning to aviation our goal is clear:
the the decarbonisation goal of climate-neutrality by 2050.
The ReFuelEU Aviation is leading towards this exact direction.
But it also supports greater independence.
because dependence on fossil fuels makes Europe vulnerable.
It also gives the industry certainty,
and we all know how important this is for investment.
Over the last year, we have made great progress with sustainable aviation fuels.
And I am confident going forward
since the EU SAF market is already growing faster than our targets.
Scaling up EU investment in SAF
will be the focus of the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan
that I will present later this year.
Let me now return to TEN-T,
the network that physically connects Europe,
our economies, our communities, our single market.
The Connecting Europe Facility has been key,
and I am pleased that Italy has been a major beneficiary.
Since 2014, more than 3.2 billion euro of CEF funding
has supported 183 Italian projects,
leveraging 7.3 billion euro in investment.
Italy is also involved in two of the largest TEN-T projects,
the Brenner Base Tunnel
and the Turin-Lyon railway line.
The Brenner Base tunnel between Innsbruck and Fortezza
is the EUs largest cross-border infrastructure project.
It will solve traffic and congestion problems,
shifting large shares of freight and passenger traffic
from road to rail.
The EU has co-funded the construction of the tunnel and its access routes
with more than 2.8 billion euro.
And to maximise its benefits, we need full access routes.
So, I very much welcome the swift progress you are making with upgrades to infrastructure from Verona.
I also count on Germany to move ahead with access routes to the north.
The cross-border section of the new Lyon-Turin freight and passenger railway line
is right now under construction.
Of the 65km from Val Susa to Val Maurienne,
57.5km are within the Mont Cenis base tunnel.
The tunnel will help solve traffic problems in this environmentally sensitive area.
It will offer a modern connection for passengers travelling between Paris,Milan and Rome,
and a rail freight alternative in Piemonte.
More than 40 million tonnes of goods are exchanged between France and Italy annually
and in the near future, our goal is that most of that goods,
will go through the tunnel.
But again, we will need access routes with sufficient capacity.
So, I welcome Italys clear investment plan,
which will modernise the lines from Susa to Turin.
Equally decisive action in needed by France.
Completing both projects as swiftly as possible
will benefit Italy, and the EU.
And once again I want to underline that the EU
remains fully committed to both projects..
By July, we will have allocated the entire CEF transport budget for 2021–2027,
2.5 years ahead of schedule,
a clear proof of the high demand and the number of mature projects in the pipeline.
Yet the scale of investments needs remains vast.
Completing the TEN-T core and extended network
requires 845 billion euro by 2040.
Recent reports by Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi and Sauli Niinistö confirm this.
We must not forget that CEF invests in cross-border connections
that Member States do not prioritise,
but in reality, they are crucial for the TEN-T.
CEF also plays a very crucial role in military mobility.
It enables infrastructure upgrades that support the swift and efficient movement of military goods and troops.
Times have changed, and we need to be prepared.
Our infrastructure,
in particular on four priority military mobility corridors,
have to be upgraded
to meet military requirements and be ready for dual civilian-defence use.
And this must be done urgently.
The military mobility budget was 1.7 billion euro,
It was exhausted after just three proposal calls.
And we were able to fund 96 dual-use projects in 21 Member States.
But lets be frank,
this budget was way tiny compared to the challenges we are facing.
That is why we will continue to advocate for a CEF-like central instrument, with sufficient funding.
Completing the TEN-T and strengthening defence readiness,
all require serious investment.
I am confident that transport ministers will support this,
and secure the support of finance ministers, and ultimately prime ministers,
because this is very crucial.
I count on your help
to make thiscase for transport infrastructure investment.
Onorevoli Membri del Parlamento,
Italy plays a central role in shaping Europes transport future.
Your high-speed rail network,
your shipbuilding excellence,
your ports,
your commitment to innovation
these are not only Italian assets,
they are European assets.
As Commissioner, I deeply value your contributions, your engagement, and your leadership.
Grazie di cuore
for your attention and your hospitality.
I look forward to continuing our close cooperation,
for a better-connected, more resilient and more sustainable Europe.
Grazie.