WRITTEN QUESTION No. 71/97 by José BARROS MOURA to the Commission. Impact of transport policy on economic and social cohesion
Date: 1997-01-24
Institutions: BARROS MOURA, European Parliament
Subjects: common transport policy, economic and social cohesion, economic liberalism, means of public conveyance, peripheral region, public service, trans-European network, transport network













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91997E0071

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 71/97 by José BARROS MOURA to the Commission. Impact of transport policy on economic and social cohesion  


Official Journal C 319 , 18/10/1997 P. 0021 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0071/97 by José Barros Moura (PSE) to the Commission (24 January 1997)Subject: Impact of transport policy on economic and social cohesionThe final version of the First Report on Cohesion (COM(96)0542) has omitted certain obvious remarks, namely the following:Improvements in the transport network - whether as a result of liberalization or of the TENs - tend to be of more benefit to the centre of the system than to the periphery. Liberalization has, in certain sectors (such as air transport), exposed companies based in cohesion countries to competition from the more efficient companies of the central area. Liberalization also seems to raise the danger of erosion of social services, despite public service obligations. A policy of strict vigilance is therefore necessary and more could be done to take explicit account of cohesion objectives in the formulation of policies.The final version claims that the opposite is true, despite all the evidence to the contrary. It is surely obvious that the TENs cannot help to strengthen cohesion unless priority is given to facilitating access to peripheral areas. The difficulties caused by the liberalization of air transport in cohesion countries are evident.Can the Commission explain this version of the facts which, as in other parts of the same report, tends to devalue the objectives of economic and social cohesion, in particular that of reducing development disparities between countries and between regions?Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (13 March 1997)In its analysis of the transport sector in the first cohesion report, the Commission has attempted to give a balanced view with regard to the impact of policy in this area. The report demonstrates that transport liberalisation and Transeuropean transport networks (TETNs) yield important benefits for the development of networks in the Community as a whole.The report also shows that appropriate accompanying policy measures have to be taken to guarantee the best positive cohesion effects of the TETNs. The report presents the results of research on passenger transport development within the TETNs. It clearly shows that the accessibility of the more peripheral and disadvantaged regions will be increased in absolute terms, even though many central urban areas may improve their accessibility relatively more than peripheral regions.With regard to the liberalisation process, the report indicates the potential danger of the erosion of services which, while uneconomic, are important for regional or social reasons. The rôle of public service obligations within the regulatory framework is underlined. In this context, the situation of the 'cohesion' Member States with regard to transport liberalisation is specifically considered, and it is argued that for them public service obligations are of particular importance to guarantee levels of service.