PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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more up to the CEEC to make sure that funds are used in the most environmentally
friendly and regionally balanced manner. Presently, however, program decisions seem to
still be rather strongly influenced by the EU’s DG Regio. At least in the case of the two
countries more closely analyzed in this paper, DG Regio placed a near exclusive
emphasis on funding major corridors facing the EU borders and was reluctant to consider
non-Helsinki corridor TINA network stretches for initial funding.
To be sure, the EU’s preference for funding a select number of international
corridors which will better connect the candidate countries with the EU is of course
hardly surprising and quite understandable from a larger perspective of European
integration. What is at issue, however, is that the stated objective of ISPA is supposedly
not to just to promote European integration by improving international road and rail
connections, but rather “provide assistance … in the area of economic and social
cohesion and for “transport infrastructure measures which promote sustainable mobility”
(see above). Given the above analysis, this larger claims seem less justified and even a
bit hypocritical, at least from a more locally-focused CEE perspective. This has also
been pointed out by key experts both in Brussels and in the recipient countries. For
example, in reacting to the launch of the Commission’s ISPA program, a CEPS Working
Party report (1999:9) noted the following:
Urban and regional transport are key elements in economic development,
underpinning the service economy and labour markets. They also help to shape spatial
development in and around cities for decades to come. Defining the "European"
interest exclusively in terms of cross-border links neglects the other "European"
dimensions: sustainable transport on the one hand, and (local) economic development
on the other.
As of October 1999, it was declared policy of ISPA – the regional aid forrunner [sic]
for the candidate countries – to limit grant aid to the Trans European Network. This is
a major policy error to be addressed by the new Directorate General for Enlargement
and the equally new joint DG for environment [sic - energy] and transport.