European transport policy--a historical and forward looking perspective.

Publication: German Policy Studies

Publication Date: 01-OCT-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Southern Public Administration Education Foundation, Inc.

Abstract

This article discusses the development of European transport policy in historical perspective and the challenges this faces at present. European transport policy took some time to emerge and progress has been slow and with hold-ups due to the long process of approximation of national transport policies and the resulting institutional reforms. The development of European transport policy shows clear phases. Following a rather protracted phase of intense exchange of views with little policy output, during the eighties the common market began to be implemented in transport as well and liberalisation became the overarching goal. The liberal market approach remains today the core idea of European transport policy and it is on this basis that solutions are sought to the pressing problems of congestion and environmental pollution. However the first doubts regarding this approach are also beginning to be voiced, not least by the Commission itself. While it is unlikely that the liberal market approach to transport ceases to be crucial, this contribution ventures the proposition that successfully coping with the problems of congestion and pollution will bring about a paradigm shift towards the re-definition and, in part, re-assertion of the role of the state in transport policy.

Introduction

Is there a European transport policy? In the nineties--not so long ago--this question was legitimate for two reasons: first, transport mostly concerned infrastructure (investment)--thus wanting to relate transport to policy could understandably have been considered a peculiarity or, worse, an abnormality; second, transport was still primarily a national agenda item, at best the subject of bilateral state agreements.

Today the question no longer leads to raised eyebrows and those questioning the existence of a European transport policy are in the minority. As a new directive on road pricing is under preparation and will consider, among other things, the earmarking of revenues from pricing for the financing of future rail infrastructure investments, it would appear that we are entering a new era in transport policy, namely that of intermodality and strategic planning. In this era a strong emphasis is placed on the coordination between modes and the use of policy instruments other than infrastructure investment, besides harmonisation within the European space.

How correct is this depiction of the development of European transport policy? Does it correspond to reality or is it merely a smart public relations trick of the Brussels technocracy? The answer is that it is neither the former nor the latter. Just as it was wrong back in the early nineties to claim that there was no such thing as a European transport policy, it is wrong today to think that European transport policy is sweeping and going strong. As is true of most European policies, the truth is to be found somewhere in the middle. It is perhaps also for this reason that in the recent years transport policy has gained in interest for the social sciences: the process of European integration or Europeanisation has brought about or made explicit all those potential or actual conflicts that rid transport policy and which render it worthwhile to consider from a social scientific point of view.

This paper has three main objectives: first, to review in historical perspective the development of European transport policy, thus helping to dispense with wrong speculations with regard to the existence and/or significance of European transport policy (section 1); second, to characterise the ideational orientation of contemporary European transport policy and its impact on national transport policies (section 2); third, and against this background, to consider the contemporary challenges to European transport policy and its future direction (section 3). The challenges faced by European transport policy today have less to do with learning a new mode of planning and governance as necessitated by the harmonisation of policies due to Europeanisation, but rather with the contents and orientation of transport policy. This is especially with regard to the role of the state and the market, and the importance attached to (environmental) sustainability.

European Transport Policy in Historical Perspective

We may speak of four phases in the development of the Common Transport Policy: the period between 1957 and 1985; the period between 1985 and 1991; the period between 1992 and 2000; and the period since 2001 (Schmidt and Giorgi, 2001).

A slow start: paying lip service to a European goal

The focus of the 1957 Treaty of Rome was the economic development of the original signatory states, hence the establishment of a Single Market to promote the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour. The creation of a Single Market for intra-Community transport was judged as one of the necessary conditions for achieving these 'four freedoms'. Article 75 of the Treaty of Rome forms the legal basis of the European transport policy, at the time still referred to as the Common Transport Policy (CTP), by stating that

"[the Council shall] lay down: common rules applicable to international transport to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across the territory of one or more Member States; the conditions under which nonresident carriers may operate transport services within a Member State; measures to improve transport safety; any other appropriate provisions." (Official Journal C340, p.67)

Despite the above explicit commitment to removing barriers to competition and supporting free market access, the European transport policy did not amount to much between 1957 and 1985. The 1961 Schaus Memorandum presented first guidelines for a Community-wide action programme in transport but Member States showed little real interest in following this up consequently. Transport policy during this time continued to be primarily national. The Council of Ministers of Transport, supported by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), was used primarily as a forum for the exchange of ideas.

A vision and a mission--marketisation and negative integration

The turning point in the development of the Common Transport Policy came with the publication in 1985 of the White Paper on the Completion of the Internal Market, which identified restrictions on the provision of transport services as a serious barrier to open trade. This corroborated an opinion of the Commission published already in 1975. In the same year the European Court of Justice pronounced these restrictions as not in accordance with the Treaty of Rome. This provided additional support to those arguing in favour of more coordination...

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