Against the prevailing narrative of the The Belt and Road as a top-down strategy to spread China’s geopolitical influence, there is the BRI’s impact through its first decade as emanating «from the middle out and bottom up» via transport-enabled corridors traversing a large number of regions within and across national territories.

On December 9, 2020, the European Commission presented its Strategy for Sustainable and Smart Mobility with an action plan of 82 initiatives for 2021-2024. Is the EU transport system capable of achieving its green and digital transformation?