PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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However, due to renewed shifts in the Polish political landscape of power,
circumstances changed dramatically again just before the Polish National ISPA Strategy
was supposed to be drafted. Interestingly, Jan Friedberg, the Ex-Deputy Major of
Krakow and a long-time supporter of Polish Ecological Club initiatives, became Deputy
Minister of Transport and Under Secretary of State. Friedberg had already acquired an
international reputation as a savvy sustainable transport expert by being one of the key
promoters of the much acclaimed Krakow Fast Tram urban transport project (supported
financially by the EBRD, the EIB and Phare). Most importantly, Friedberg had also been
one of the co-authors of the Polish Alternative Transport Policy of 1998. Knowing that
he had several influential political adversaries both inside his ministry and inside the
Motorway Agency, and that his time as Under Secretary of State might therefore be
limited, Friedberg wasted little in reworking Polish transport policy. 22
In some short fullday
(and night) working sessions in June 2000, a new draft transport policy was
developed with the help of key national experts. Although neither finished nor approved
at the time that the Polish ISPA transport strategy was finished (January 2000), this
background certainly explains the shift in tone compared to previous Polish transport
policy statements. However, while generally hailed as a much more consistent overall
approach, one national expert nevertheless warned that, as usual, the devil lay in the
As part of Poland’s preparing for EU access, the EU, though its Transport Infrastructure Needs
Assessment initiative, is encouraging investment in major transport infrastructure supported by IFI
financing.
We will try to factor externalities into our project, but much remains to be done to give them monetary
values.
We agree that rail has an economic advantage for long-distance, mass transportation.
Rail lines not of national interest can now be devolved to regional governments.
We accept that the State should take urban transport under its wing in a “strategic thinking process.”
Limiting mobility goes against out basic policy of free choice in transport, so it is asking a lot to suggest
the Government to do so.
22 Jan Friedberg in fact managed to remain in his position until the latest elections in 2001.