Brussels, 31/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 31 January, the European Commission adopted a communication entitled “Guidelines for Transport in Europe in Neighbouring Regions”. This communication, which is dedicated to the memory of Loyola de Palacio, the former European Commissioner with responsibility for Transport and project coordinator for the trans-European transport networks (TETNs), who died recently, sketches out an ambitious policy aiming to create an effective transport market for the EU and its neighbours, and to include internal market principles. It identifies five international transport axes and proposes a raft of measures to reduce journey times on them.
The five axes identified are:
Motorways of the Sea, linking the Baltic Sea, the Barents Sea, the Atlantic Ocean (including the external regions of the Canary Isles, the Azores and Madeira), the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and the coastal countries situated in maritime zones and with an extension across the Suez Canal to the Red Sea;
The northern axis, which links the north of the Union with Norway in the north and Belarus and Russia to the east. A liaison with the Barents Sea region to link Norway to Russia via Sweden and Finland is also in the pipeline;
The central axis linking the centre of the Union with Ukraine and the Black Sea, and with the Caspian Sea via an inland waterway. This axis includes a direct liaison between Ukraine and the Trans Siberian, and an inland waterway from the Don/Volga to the Baltic Sea;
The south east axis, which connects the European Union to the Balkans and Turkey, and further with the Southern Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, as well as with the Middle East, as far as Egypt and the Red Sea;
The south west axis, connecting the European Union with Switzerland and Morocco, with the trans-Maghrebin link connecting Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and its extension into Europe.
These axes, which are considered to be the most important from the point of view of the international trade of the Union and the neighbour countries and even beyond, come under the framework of the objectives listed in the recent communication on reinforcing the European neighbourhood policy. The plan also provides a series of measures aiming to shorten journey times, by such means as improving infrastructure, simplifying customs procedures and reducing administrative burdens.
The guidelines are based on the recommendations of the high-level group set up by the Commission in 2004, and which presented its final report to the Commissioner in charge of Transport, Jacques Barrot, in December 2005. They describe the first stages of a global policy to shore up the integration of the Union's transport system with its neighbour countries. In the long term, it will lead to joint rules and regulations for the transport sector as a whole, and create an effective transport market for the Union and for its neighbours.