Malcolm Harbour’s delightful contradictions (but he’s not the only one)

Tory MEP Malcolm Harbour was on the second panel at the European Transport Forum, talking in broad terms about how the Single Market in transport is not yet complete. Nice soundbite, right?

But what would completion of the Single Market actually mean?

It means either major infrastructure investments, or constraints on national sovereignty, or further challenge to the remnants of national monopolies (SNCF for example).

Harbour was keen to talk about a Polish food exporter he had met, who complained about the barriers to trade her goods. If those good were transported by truck then the driver will encounter different road pricing systems in each country… and so a uniform system would complete the transport market… and of course Harbour is never going to advocate the UK agreeing to a Europe-wide road pricing system!