AIF-2016 ro

UNIFE Briefing February 2017

  • -

UNIFE Briefing February 2017

View this email in your browser
Foreword from Philippe Citroën
Competitiveness of the European Rail Supply Industry Forum
10 years of European Railway Awards
Joint declaration for an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy
Sixth EU-Japan Industrial Dialogue on Railways (27 February) and EU-Japan FTA negotiations
Update on EU-China relations
European Parliament approves EU-Canada Trade Agreement (CETA)
‘Blending’ is being tested for the Connecting Europe Facility grants
Update on the status of the implementation of the Technical Pillar of the 4th Railway Package
RFE dinner event on MEAT principle
Shift2Rail interim evaluation
NGTC Final Conference successfully held in Brussels
Signalling CEOs sign Letter of Intent for supporting the updated ERTMS European Deployment Plan
IRIS Certification™ status update
Upcoming events

Foreword from Philippe Citroën

Dear Friends,

It was great getting a chance to speak with so many of you at the 10th Anniversary of the European Railway Awards earlier this month. As always, the event provided a wonderful opportunity for so many members of our community to come together and listen to insightful speakers share their visions of rail – including UNIFE Chairman President of Bombardier Transportation Laurent Troger. I hope those of you who had a chance to attend enjoyed it.

Today is European Industry Day – which will bring together high-level policy makers and representatives from various sectors to debate the future of European Industry. UNIFE along with 125 European Manufacturing Associations signed a Joint Declaration for an ambitious EU industrial strategy, made public earlier this month to put pressure on the European Commission to propose an industrial strategy that will help safeguard the world leadership of European manufacturers, and keep jobs in Europe. We’ve never seen so many associations from such a wide range of industries come together to support a single declaration, and we have definitely been heard.  You can read more about this declaration in this Newsletter.

I am currently on a flight back from Tokyo, where I attended the 6th EU-Japan Industrial Dialogue on Railways. As you know, the past few years of negotiations have not done much to improve access to the Japanese market, and we were very firm in our expectation of concrete results and major market access improvements going far beyond the ‘one-year package’ on railway.

Warm regards,

Philippe Citroën
Director General

HIGHLIGHT

Competitiveness of the European Rail Supply Industry Forum

The European Commission Directorate for Industry (DG GROW) will organise the kick-off meeting of the Competitiveness of the European Rail Supply Industry Forum in Brussels on 2 March. The creation of this platform of dialogue between the EU Institutions and our manufacturing industry is the direct outcome of the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Competitiveness of the European Rail Supply Industry adopted last June 2016 under the leadership of Ms. Martina Werner, Member of the European Parliament’s Industry Committee.
Contact: Jean-Philippe Peuziat