Political lunch debate in the EU Parliament with MEP Sophia Kircher

(Brussels, 14 May 2025) MEP Sophie Kircher and Kombiverkehr KG want to work together to end the political deadlock in the debate on the future of the CT Directive. That is why Kombiverkehr, together with Kircher, who is Vice-Chair of the TRAN Committee, initiated a lunch debate in the European Parliament today. The high-level event also aimed to provide new impetus for sustainable European rail freight transport.

The background to the initiative is the EU Commission's third draft of the Combined Transport Directive, which was presented in November 2023. Despite the declared goals for modal shift, a lack of standardisation, implementation deficits in the member states and a stalled legislative process continue to hamper the growth of combined transport in Europe. The industry is urgently calling for planning security - but the negotiations are at an impasse.

‘It is high time for this debate to get combined transport moving again. A modern and efficient transport system is one of the most important foundations for competitiveness in the EU. The direction is clear: we need a noticeable shift in transport from road to rail. In this context, it is very important what the legal basis looks like so as not to ultimately generate more traffic on the roads, especially in the Alpine regions,’ emphasised MEP Sophia Kircher.

The central topics of the debate were:

• The biggest challenges of the Combined Transport Directive
• The need for a future-proof definition of combined transport
• Better coordination between existing legal acts (e.g. Weight and Dimensioning Directive)
• The role of national subsidies and their influence on fair competition
• Lessons learnt from crisis situations such as the 2019 snow chaos or the situation on the Brenner corridor
• The dialogue between the European Commission, Parliament and the logistics industry on the next legislative steps

Armin Riedl, Managing Director of Kombiverkehr KG, made clear demands, particularly to the Polish Council Presidency: "The topic of combined transport is too important to be left lying around any longer. Since the end of the 1990s, no progress has been made in renewing the most important directive for this rapidly growing area of rail freight transport." The Commission, the Parliament and the Council Presidency must now make a new start in order not to jeopardise the economic upturn in Europe. "A growing industry needs strong freight transport. And that is not possible without high-performance combined transport based on an innovative, comprehensible and completely overhauled CT directive."

Kristian Schmidt, Director of the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), also appealed to the member states to take greater responsibility and accelerate the implementation of common European objectives in the transport sector. With this initiative, Kombiverkehr, together with political decision-makers, is sending a clear signal: combined transport must be strengthened, clearly regulated by law and strategically expanded - for climate-friendly and crisis-proof European logistics.

Photos: Berbalk Communications