The sector of urban passenger transport with tourism vehicles (taxis and vehicles for hire) is, surely, the one where the appearance of the sharing economy –or, we can choose to say, the digital platforms– has given rise to more heated controversies, more questionable regulatory measures and a greater number of disputes. In the work presented herein, a brief review is set out of the latest regulatory issues which have been outlined here, highlighting those which are still awaiting resolution, in a sense which is seemingly not easy to perceive.
Becoming the first continent to be climatically neutral is currently both Europe’s main challenge and greatest opportunity. A new energy model, based on energy that is renewable, distributed and efficient, is crucial in order to accelerate the solution to the climate emergency. In this sense, on 25 February 2015, the European Commission set out a vision of an Energy Union with citizens at its core, where citizens take ownership of the energy transition, benefit from new technologies to reduce their bills and participate actively in the market. In June 2019, the European Union turned this public policy objective into an applicable regulation while the new EU directive on the electricity market set a new actor on the energy market: the citizen energy community. In this article, we analyse the meaning and significance of this key player in transforming the economy into a climate-neutral economy.