European transport ministers meet in Barcelona to work on EU territorial cohesion

As part of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, European transport ministers are having an informal meeting in Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau. 

On a press conference after the meeting, the Transport commissioner Adina Valean explained that the European Commission will not ban flights between cities that are less than 500 km apart, even where there are alternative means of transport. "We do not have to ban, we have to build. And if we build alternatives, people will naturaly chose them," she added. 

The Spanish transport minister Raquel Sánchez has explained that she is open to analyzing France's proposal for minimum tax on flights, but that it has not been discussed on Friday's meeting. "A rigourous analysis would be necessary to see how it would politically fit in Spain and tha impact it would have in aerial transport," she explained.

In a press conference before the meeting, Raquel Sánchez, the Spanish transport minister, explained that Friday's meeting will allow conversations about how means of transport "have to be used to promote social and territorial cohesion among EU states." 

Sánchez also mentioned that she feels "optimistic" about the agreement with the European Commission to not pay tolls for the use of roads, although the agreement is not finalized yet. 

Pro-independence protests outside

Outside the building where the meeting was taking place, about fifty people gathered at a protest organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC).

Protestors complained about Catalonia's infrastructure and the "transport deficit" in Catalonia, including the lack of investment in the Rodalies commuter rail network. 

The group of demonstrators also shouted some chants in favor of independence, as a group of police followed them closely. 

When speaking with the press, the president of ANC Dolors Feliu emphasized that "we see it as a joke that they come to Catalonia, with the state of infrastructure [here], seeing that they do not invest in Catalonia and only focus on making trains to Madrid."