Investment in railways is extremely important to meet the requirements of Europe’s Green Deal — reducing emissions and fuel consumption and increasing energy efficiency. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Biser Minchev during a conference on ‘The Need for a National Plan for a Fair Transition’. The event, organized by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, was attended by representatives of the central and local government, industry organizations and others.
‘With the purchase of the new trains with funds from the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan, more and more people will prefer to use the ‘greenest transport’, which is the railway, instead of their cars’, said Deputy Minister Minchev.
He also highlighted the importance of intermodal transport and its future development. ‘Shifting freight from the roads to the railways is a particularly important step to increase the efficiency of the transport system and limit the negative impact of transport on the environment and human health’, he said.
Regarding the need for a fair transition to achieve the goals of the Green Deal, Biser Minchev stressed the clear role of the Social Climate Fund established at EU level. ‘The measures and investments supported by the Fund benefit households, micro-enterprises and transport users who are vulnerable and particularly affected by the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and from road transport, in particular households in energy or transport poverty’, said Minchev.