Interview with Ari Vatanen

Publication date: 02 April 2009

Mobility is a fact of life

Former Finish rally driver Ari Vatanen, elected as a French MEP, has tough views on mobility. According to Vatanen, Europe needs to move away from ideologically biased views on what are correct modes of transport. People's choice and efficiency should guide decisions. Vatanen argues that we should then stop seeing road transport as the “bad guy”.

What was your motivation in establishing the association “Mobility for Prosperity in Europe” in 2005?

Mobility is a fact of life. It is the human exchange of goods, services and ideas. Think of just one company like Nokia. They need billions of components to arrive from all over the world to continue production. There is no other choice. The whole logistical network is so important. And this most often means aviation and road transport. However, mobility is often misunderstood and is ideologically exploited. It should be seen as a servant of society. It is also vital to treat equally the different modes of transport that make up mobility. Our job as politicians should be to put the various types of mobility on a level playing field with the same kind of cost structure.

What equalities do you see between different types of mobility, for instance, railways, cars or aeroplanes?

There is unfair competition. Railways, for instance, are favoured with no questions asked. Public money is being poured into railways. Figures for the old EU, the 15 member states before 2004, show combined subsidies for railways at EUR 60 billion. And this for the mode of transport which is represents less than 5 % of the road transport. On top of this, the tax offices in those 15 member states take some EUR 360 billion from road transport. If you think that road transport only gets back some EUR 100 billion, then this leaves a surplus of some EUR 250 billion.

Is the situation better in Finland?

Finland has some of the highest road transport taxes, at EUR 7 billion. Car drivers get back EUR 1 billion. This makes a surplus of six billion. To put it another way, Finish motorists pay in tax around 50 times the price of CO2! Road transport is the only mode of transport that can support this unfair competition. Railways cannot live without a handout.

Do you see any other problems in subsidising specific forms of transport?

One question is why should a poor worker pay for your ticket? When you take your car, you pay several times the costs. On aeroplanes, too, you pay the real costs. If all these different modes of transport were to be treated equally, then we would not be able to say, as politicians too often do, that car and air transport are the wrong modes. We are just making people feel guilty about taking a car. Popularity indicates that peoples' needs are being satisfied.

What would you like to see in the new European Commission transport policy?

I want the Commission to be honest. Up till now, the European Commission has not been so with their ideological anti road coloured policy. They are not respecting people's choice. The Commission has also used ideologically biased studies. One recent study, realised by the DELFT consultant and used by the Commission, claims that lorries cause 22 000 deaths from heart attacks. This is a joke but these methods are then applied in policy making.

You have tough views on mobility, but do you not need to compromise with others?

The main question is whether we will continue with ideologically biased transport policies or will we finally respect peoples' choices.

Will you be back in Brussels for the next Parliament after elections this June?

Who knows? I will stand for election in Finland. Mobility will be one of the important issues in my campaign. But it is not the only one.

FIA clubs are afraid that unsafe cars are still being imported to Europe via a loophole. What can Europe do?

I'm not a protectionist. I am absolutely for the free market. But of course we have to protect human life. We cannot bring unsafe cars using loopholes in European legislation. Human safety is a top priority. But if cars meet common EU regulation then they should be allowed in.

Does being a racing driver help as a politician?

Generally, if you are a well-known person, it helps. But I emphasise the fact that politics is the game of power. For me, we are all in a team. I'm a team leader. My team sport background makes me aware of the need to respect people's choice and not strangle mobility. I try to look at things as an engineer making evidence-based decisions.

The price of a barrel of oil shot up and down last year. Prices at petrol stations continue to be high. Why?

There are reasons that escape my understanding. But there may be cartels preventing market forces from working. People are genuinely baffled as to why petrol prices do not follow crude prices. There are also very high taxes on petrol.

Can we do more for road safety?

If we had a more modern infrastructure and modern cars, many more people would not die unnecessarily. This is not just about the driving capabilities of car, bicycle or motorbike drivers. It is also a question of infrastructure. There is just not enough spending on infrastructure. We are not building safe roads. Road networks get very little money from EU funds. Only 2.78 percent in the next EU budget (TEN-T) is allocated to road infrastructure. However, this is the mode of transport chosen by 95% of people despite excessive taxation. Railways get around 70% of the funds. Centrally planned "Gosplan" policies are detrimental to European prosperity.

Source: FIA European Bureau

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