The Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (TTE) looks at cooperation in these areas to develop coordinated networks and infrastructure which will benefit the internal market and the EU economy as a whole. Its objective is to establish sustainable, competitive and efficient markets and infrastructure, and to create trans-European transport, communications and energy networks. It concerns regulations relating to the compliance of vehicles to certain environmental criteria or safety criteria and relating to passenger rights for transport. One of the important and controversial issues is the liberalisation of the European railway via the fourth railway package.
In the aviation sector, the EU has established an internal market for aviation services. This has contributed to an increase in the number of flights and departures available, while at the same time reducing prices to a historically low level. The long term objective is to create a European Single Sky to remove the 28 national boundaries in the sky.
On telecommunications, the Council is responsible for adopting, together with the European Parliament, legislation and guidelines on telecommunications networks and their interoperability. The EU's policy also aims to improve competition, cyber security and innovation in the telecommunications sector.
In the field of energy, the Council is responsible for adopting, together with the European Parliament, legislation on the functioning of energy markets, to ensure that energy supplies are secure, to promote energy efficiency, new and renewable energies, and to promote the interconnection of energy networks. Another important issue is the reform of the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).
In 2011, heads of states and governments adopted Europe’s energy strategy 2020 that should help reaching the Europe 2020 targets: 20 % of energy should come from renewables and energy efficiency should increase by 20 % until 2020. In October 2014, the European Council agreed on the 2030 climate and energy framework and endorsed a binding EU target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % until 2030 (compared to 1990) as well as a binding target of 27 % of renewables and improving energy efficiency by 27 %.
The composition of the TTE Council and the number of its meetings varies according to the items on the agenda. Transport ministers usually meet four times a year, energy ministers meet three or four times a year and telecommunications ministers meet twice a year.