On 1 September 2021, Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport, travelled to Portugal where she gave a joint press conference with Pedro Nuno Santos, Portuguese Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, in Lisbon, Portugal, on the occasion of the ‘Connecting Europe Express', a special train put together as part of the European Year of Rail 2021, which is to be pulled out of Lisbon train station on 2 September 2021 and to stop in more than 100 towns and cities during its five-week journey, before arriving in Paris on 7 October 2021. Departing from Lisbon and ending its trip in Paris, the train is scheduled to make a notable stop in Ljubljana, connecting the Portuguese, Slovenian and French Presidencies of the Council of the EU.