Pat Cox
Coordinator Priority Project Number 1 TEN-T
The European Union is faced with the most pressing crisis in its history. Economically, the combined weight of growing uncertainty and multiple austerity programmes has brought the EU back to the brink of recession. While politically, leaders struggle to assert themselves and the centrality of politics in the face of diminished confidence in the European project by financial markets which continue to exert unremitting pressure through credit downgrades and historically high bond spreads between Euro zone states.
More than most other times now is the time when we need to chart the clearest course, to know where we are going and by what means we intend to get there. The Roman dramatist, philosopher and politician, Seneca, wrote almost two millennia ago: ‘If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favourable to him’. What was true then remains true today. We need to fix our course and harness the available wind in our favour.
If the current crisis teaches any lesson to Europeans it is surely that developing instruments of policy is no less important than developing decision making institutions. As regards trans-European transport networks the Core Network to be achieved by 2030 and the Comprehensive Network to be realised by 2050 together with their accompanying funding guidelines through the Connecting Europe Facility offer an integrated package of targets and instruments.
Since the TEN-T framework was initiated much has changed. The internal market for transport has evolved. The territorial extent of the EU has expanded. The socio-economic diversity of the Union has increased. Experience has taught us that though much has been accomplished much more remains to be done. To date cross border connections between member states and with neighbouring states too often have been accorded a lower priority status than purely domestic infrastructure. Together with technical barriers, especially in rail transport, gaps in infrastructure between transport modes and serious bottlenecks, the shortcomings of present policy are manifest. Moreover, by 2050 freight and passenger volumes will increase significantly imposing greater demands on our basic infrastructures.
We are familiar with the saying: ‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’ Learning from our experience matters, if we are to avoid repeating its most glaring deficiencies. That is why a new policy paradigm is imperative and why it is being proposed. Today we conceptualise a new and comprehensive transport infrastructure for our continent.
Each of us is called on to play his or her part, to accept that ‘No man is an Island’ but that each one of us is connected as ‘a piece of the Continent’. Acting together we can act more coherently, more comprehensively, more competitively and more sustainably than acting alone.
My experience as co-ordinator of Priority Project Number 1, with its Alpine corridor hinging on the completion of the Brenner Base Tunnel and its accompanying Northern and Southern Access routes, has not only taught me the vital importance of securing sufficient and timely financial commitments but also made clear that a solid and transparent cooperation with the entire stakeholder community will drive the project forward. That is why the Secretary-General of the Alpine Convention and I have agreed to work more closely in the future, sharing knowledge and experience with other stakeholders like the Brenner Corridor Platform.
The decision of 18 April 2011 of Italy and Austria to commence the main construction works of the Brenner base tunnel (Phase III) is a major milestone for the Brenner Corridor in particular and for Priority Project Number 1 in general. However, in parallel to the construction of the Brenner Corridor with its multiple engineering complexities other challenges and issues regarding the social, economic and environmental dimensions must be addressed. Concrete measures need to be contemplated and assessed, for example: such as the internalisation of external cost, or assessing the impact of excise and other fuel taxes on Heavy Goods Vehicle. Noise pollution and air quality protection need to be confronted through the development of green corridors.
However, what has become increasingly clear to me, in my role as EU Co-ordinator of Priority Project Number 1, is that isolated policy initiatives corridor by corridor and case by case, though necessary to making progress, will remain insufficient and risk being sub-optimal in sensitive Alpine regions absent pan Alpine dialogue, cooperation and initiatives. The principles of the Alpine Convention and the considerable volume of quality analysis that has been commissioned by the secretariat provide a rich texture for deepening policy dialogue and development. That is why I am particularly pleased that the Secretary-General of the Alpine Convention and the Secretariat responded positively to our invitation to engage with the work of the Brenner Corridor Platform. There are no quick and easy or single ‘silver bullet’ solutions to the complex challenges of delivering smarter, cleaner and safer mobility across and through the Alps but a willingness to work together and a determination to make common cause in finding mutually acceptable and effective solutions is indispensible to success. 2012 offers a chance to build on the modest but strong foundations that we have laid together as regards the pan Alpine aspects of the transport network which I have the privilege to co-ordinate. I look to building on these foundations.
