Transport Policy - Ways into Europe's Future [antikvár]

A reliably functioning transport system in Europe is the basis for the continent's growing together, for trade and economic development, for competetiveness and harmonization of conditions of living. Individual opportunities are codetermined by the transport system, too. At the same time, however, transport damages the environment, takes up land and energy, destroy the landscape, causes noise and reduces the quality of life. In addition there are frightening accident statistics. Contrary objectives at economic and ecological, at social and individual level go along with the transport system. These conflicts of objectives become ever more critical in Europe in every respect. The implementation of the EC Single Market and the opening of Eastern and Central European states, above all, cause an additional enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic. The continent is facing traffic infarction. The cities are congested; the trunk roads are completely overloaded ; the air traffic control systems are overstrained ; the European railways pursue contrary objectives. The European transport policy, neglected for a long time, is now increasingly at the center of political and public attention. The traffic dilemma is one of the problems, which can no longer be solved in an adequate manner at national level. A political overall concept at European level does not exist. Even the much needed transport policy co-ordination between the European states does hardly take place. The present European transport policies - as they present themselves at the level of individual member states and at EC level - rather give the impression of a remarkable heterogenity and lack of concept. They neither give an answer to the urgent questions, nor do they offer a convincing orientation for the transport policy problems of the future. Priorities between the individual transport carriers are politically vague and undecisive. The European Community, in particular, as an action-oriented - 7 -