PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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and as such part of the priority investment list of both national and international planning
documents. The scoping therefore was to be carried out as an ad interim assessment,
focusing on existing environmental and transport policy contexts. The final synthesis
report of the exercise begins by noting that “the EU Accession Process is the main driver
of change in Central and Eastern Europe” (REC 2000:1). The EU Accession process has
indeed already fundamentally transformed not only the transport, but also the
environmental policies in the CEE candidate countries. 15
Several conclusions that emerged from the REC exercise are revealing. For
example, the report notes that urban air pollution and loss of habitat are two major
impacts directly related to rising traffic volumes, which are in turn related to higher
incomes and accelerated trade between East and West. Much more importantly, the
authors of the synthesis report come to the clear conclusion that “the Community support
for the TEN [extensions in CEE] is drawing the limited national resources primarily
towards construction of long distance infrastructure, primarily highways” (REC 2000:9,
my emphasis). Moreover, REC researchers found that now that the backbone network of
the Trans-European network extensions had been determined in the form of the Helsinki
corridors, CEE in-country representatives frequently (and often purposely) misinterpreted
the TEN-extensions and the entire TINA exercise as an agreed and consultative
international agreement awaiting implementation at the national level. The argument was
often made in conjunction with the myth that the TINA backbone network was something
that would largely be funded by the EU (i.e. ISPA) and the IFIs. Consequently, anyone
opposing the content and priority networks contained in TINA appeared to be
15 Most CEE countries have by now adopted National Environmental Policies, National Environmental
Action Programs, and National Transport Policies that take into account EU requirements and regulations,
as well as strategic objectives.