Infrastructure Networks in Central Europe and EU Enlargement

Fleischer, Tamás (2003) Infrastructure Networks in Central Europe and EU Enlargement. Project Report. Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest.

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Abstract

This paper draws attention to the spatial dimension of sustainability, where spatial self-defence is an important part of control over local assets that have to be preserved. It should be added that well-structured local networks constitute an important requirement for effective spatial self-defence. In the existing European Union, where the national infrastructure networks have been relatively developed, the formation of a single market called first for concentration of efforts on the overlapping or inter-regional backbone level of networks. In the area now acceding to the EU, it is important to note that this programme cannot be applied with unchanged priorities in regions still lacking appropriate local networks, where great attention needs devoting to internal networks. In the integration process, the transition countries have to understand the importance of a multilayered network and pay equal attention to every layer of the transport network. The other issue that has been criticized is the structure of the backbone network. While the development of the trans-European networks in western Europe was governed by internal considerations – the intention of connecting national networks, the starting point in the eastern half of Europe was the external consideration of extending Trans-European Networks (TEN) to the transition countries. Even the backbone elements of the Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment (TINA) network, which enjoy priority today, still reflect this approach. The danger remains that the additions expressing the needs of candidate countries will become lost in the process. Turning to Hungary, the paper gives a brief account of how an overcentralized transport network developed over the last century and the process by which a new road-transport layer was being created. The country today faces a similar process, as the new layer is developed into the new structure. Nonetheless, the existing and emerging structure is mistaken. An effort to reorient the conception is being made by defining the networkdevelopment criteria for a long-term inter-regional road network offering a structure separate from the traditional network of trunk roads, by developing an open grid that ensures minimum disturbance from transit traffic.

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