The EU Commission’s Economic Recovery Plan gets the support of eSafety Forum

Creation date: 02 March 2009

The euro area and some Member States more then others are hardly hit by the current economic situation. The latest economic forecasts indicate an economic growth close to zero and risks of contraction for the EU economy in 2009, with increasing unemployment rate in
the next two years.

All Member States should concentrate their efforts to promote structural reforms needed to help the European Union (EU) emerge from the current economic crisis without undermining longer term fiscal sustainability. Therefore the EU Commission took the initiative to propose the European Economic Recovery Plan which includes a series of coordinated actions manly focusing on innovation and greening of EU investment and attempts to inject 200 Billion Euros in support of the EU economy.

The Automotive sector, as any other industry sector, needs to see beyond the current crisis and think of mobility and transport solutions 10 to 20 years from now.
The Green Car initiative is one of the long-term actions taken by the EU Commission, together with the car industry and the eSafety Forum. The three parties are currently focusing their contributions on the development of technologies, components and systems for a fully electric car, including the necessary infrastructure. Moreover DG INFSO and DG RTD are working on a Position Paper defining the research contents.

Another challenge the eSafety Forum and others stakeholders of the sector need to tackle is the setting up of a policy framework that would:

• Coordinate and support the work of relevant stakeholders, citizens, Member States and Industry through eSafety Forum.
• Support research and development in the area of smarter, cleaner and safer vehicles and facilitate the take-up and use of research results. 
• Create awareness of ICT based solutions to stimulate user’s demand for these systems and create socio-economic acceptance.

To support the EU Commission initiative, the eSafety Forum members decided to put in place a Task Force on Economic Recovery which would ensure the implementation and deployment of eSafety and cooperative vehicle-infrastructure systems, the eCall European Deployment Platform, and will contribute, through its RTD WG, with input to further define the priorities of the Strategic Research Agenda. 
A particular emphasis will be put on the recommendations of the “ICT for Clean and Efficient Mobility WG” which present the potential benefits and their significant impact that ICT (information & communication technologies) and ITS (intelligent transport systems) applications can have on road transport energy efficiency.
The eSafety Forum will meet on 23 March in Brussels, when they will further discuss the Economic Recovery Plan and decide on the immediate actions to be taken.

The changes in world economic and policies, and the corresponding changes in consumer values and behaviours show that the new products should respond to consumer needs.