Brussels, 20/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Polish members of the European Parliament have opened the battle for more consideration to be given to the transport corridors which cross Central Europe in the review of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) due this spring. Artur Zasada laid particular stress on the transport corridor linking Sweden and Croatia through Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The corridor, which already forms part of the Baltic Sea strategy (see EUROPE 10006), would make use of several forms of transport, providing the best link between the Baltic and the Adriatic. Around 50 more MEPs from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania have sent a letter to European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas calling for a rail link between Kraków and the Romanian port of Constanta to be included among the TEN-T projects. In its remarks on the review of the TEN-T, the Polish government has already proposed the inclusion in the network of a 140km-long section of this possible link in Poland, from Kraków to the Slovakian border. This would join Kraków to the Slovakian section of the link, which is already part of the TEN-T. “After completion, the rail corridor via Kraków would become the shortest link between southern Poland and the Black Sea ports”, stated the MEPs in their letter drafted at the behest of Roza Thun and Bogus³aw Sonik (both EPP). Kallas met those MEPs interested in the future of the network in Strasbourg on Tuesday 18 January. Talks on linking in Kraków are due to continue in Brussels next week. The Commission will present final proposals on the architecture of the TEN-T before summer. For Poland, a great deal is at stake. A project competing for TEN-T funding has been put forward by Germany. This would link Germany and Italy, via the Czech Republic and Austria, and bypassing Poland completely. (A.By./transl.rt)