dilemmas of the central european transport policy in the time of the european enlargement tamás...

DILEMMAS OF THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN TRANSPORT POLICY IN THE TIME OF THE EUROPEAN

ENLARGEMENT

Tamás Fleischer Institute for World Economics

of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences<http://www.vki.hu/~tfleisch>

<[email protected]>

Lecture at the University of Osnabrück Europäische Integration und gesellschaftlicher Strukturwandel

Osnabrück, 23 June, 2004.

Dilemmas of the Central European Transport Policy in time of EU Enlargement (1) Corridors (TEN) in western Europe were based

on the internal demand of the area, namely on the necessity of the interconnection of well developed national networks (“Common network to the common market”)

(2) In the eastern part of Europe the starting point was external: the extension of the TEN network toward the east. Their priority is exaggerated in countries where internal connections also would need enforcement

(3) Furthermore, in Hungary interregional corridors are planned in a mistaken structure, strengthening the earlier single-centred hierarchy

Dilemmas of the Central European Transport Policy in time of EU Enlargement

Introduction. The importance of the network level approach

Spatial dimension of sustainability

What do the transport network can do?

About the motorway networks

Conclusions, summary

Spatial dimension of sustainability Besides temporal relations of sustainability, we also have to underline the spatial interconnections

UN Bruntland report (Our Common Future 1987) definition of sustainable development “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

The general sustainability approach focus on the time dimension of sustainability; taking care on the environmental conditions of the future generations (inter-generation solidarity)

Also important to speak about the spatial conditions of sustainability as spatial solidarity and spatial interdependence - or intra-generation solidarity and spatial self-defence

Inter-generation connection is a one-way relation: our responsibility for future generations, - they can’t do anything for us...


Intra-generation relation is a two-ways relation: the activity of others can also effect our circumstances and possibilities. We have to count on their solidarity, but this is not enough, we must also do for defending our environment. Sustaining our activity in a changing environment out of the solidarity we need also a kind of self-defence.

The key concept: „space of places” and „space of flows” (Castells, Manuel 1996 The Rise of the Network Society - The Information Age). Space of places is our physical environment that has meaning and importance for us, with its order, culture, rules, and internal structures. Space of flows is the field of force: the effects arriving from outside. This latter is not a continuous space, but space of individual effects.


Sustainability is also a fight for control over space out of control over time. “Space of places must retain its autonomy and its meaning independently from the evolution and dynamics of the space of flows” (Castells)

Castells do not want to exclude external impacts and do not deny the possibility of internal changes, just underlines that too rapid and too sudden external effects not serve, but rather disintegrate internal relations and structures. - defence is needed against.

What do the transport network can do? Provision, accessibility, transit, by-passing

Above terms can be translated to economic and transport relations using terms as provision, (connections of the ‘space of places’) and. accessibility, through traffic and by-passing. (trajectories of the ‘space of flows’) (Fleischer T. Regions, borders and networks Tér és Társadalom 2001/3-4).

Different network relations relative to a region

Source: After Plogmann (1980), with own additions


The existence of a proper internal network is the precondition of the harmonised operation of a region.

A main target of the transport is to make prosperous the world of the starting and destination points in a region - and not the “good transport” in itself.

Importance of the neighbourhood relations and embeddedness (agglomerations, clusters etc.).

The physical networks of a region reserve the paths of earlier connections as a memory, and make easier to sustain or create again similar relations.=>

Source: Ray, Violette: (1991) Borders versus Networks in Eastern Central Europe. Flux, Vol.1. No.3.


The different network patterns of the western and the eastern side of the Polish railway network

Source: Gorzelak G – Jalowiecki B (2002) European Boundaries: Unity or Division of the Continent? Regional Studies, Vol.36. No.4.


The 20% of Polish gminas with lowest own income per capita, 1998


The pattern of the internal structure is determining, whether a given region becomes prosperous.

In case of strictly hierarchical structures the nods are in key positions as the flows are not able to avoid them. The consequences are rigidity, vulnerability and the lack of flexibility.

The importance of a grid structure is, that different points of a region are helped to be at a more equal position, that is it decreases (and not increases) the differences owing to their position.=>


The distinction between centripetal and centrifugal networks Source: Rodrigue, J-P (1998-2003), Dept. of Economics & Geography, Hofstra University


The multi-directionality and multi-laterality of the accessibility is of basic importance for the development of a region.

Among the external relations a difference has to be taken between large scale backbone relations and neighbour (co-operation) relations. (Later is an extension of the internal provision relations) =>

The symmetry or the asymmetry of the impacts depend on the difference in the development of the interconnected regions. Interconnecting to each other developed and less developed regions, it is to be considered that what measure and tempo of the external changes is bearable for the less developed structure.


Source: http://www.khvm.hu/EU-integracio/A_magyarorszagi_TINA_halozat/Image11.gif

The Helsinki, or pan-European transport corridors


Effects of the EU Common Transport Policy (1992) on the Eastern region: the dominance of the „space of flows”.

Hungarian Transport Policy (1996): in spite of the well-balanced five strategic objectives, the ‘promotion of the integration to the EU’ has got a dominant role - especially in an interpretation as if the key element of the integration would be the urgent construction of the main corridors. This understanding overstresses the interregional level of relations (supporter of the ‘space of flows’) within a multi-layered system at the cost of the inter-village and inter-urban relations (that is the carrier of the ‘space of places’) .


The through traffic has to be transmitted across a region with the minimal possible disturbance of the internal circumstances.Central position of a country is a positive endowment, similar to those kind of advantages as the richness in raw materials of a region. Transit can’t be excluded but:- Must make an end of the myth of the quantity („more transit-

would be more benefit”)- Better modal split consideration necessary in serving the

transit,- The through and the local interest traffic should be separated

in its system. (What is happening in Hungary is just the opposite =>)


The secondary road network of Hungary reserved the imprint of the cart tracks connecting villages


The main road network created a new structure and interconnected towns to each other


The new inter-regional road system didn’t create a new structure, but has been built on the main roads


Forrás: Útgazdálkodás 1994-1998. KHVM, Közúti Főos ztály

Hungary plans to lead the transit traffic through its most heavily loaded areas that would need rather protection


The objective is, that the through traffic should cause but minimal disturbance to the life of the country in the areas it crosses. Therefore it should(a) interconnect the border-points given on the pan-European

network, (b) cross the country with minimal overall length,=> (c) avoid the ecologically sensitive, the densely inhabited, the,

traffic laden areas, =>(d) encourage the use of means and modes of transport that

pollute the less, (e) enable the payment of the costs of transit by those crossing

the country.


Avoidance of ecologically sensitive areas (or sensitive because of traffic or social reason) get more and more stress.Example: Austrian plan to defend the lake Fertő (Neusiedler)Counter example: construction of the motorways in Hungary along the lake Balaton (Plattensee),Planned system of pan-European corridors across the area of the Hungarian capital.


Helsinki corridors and the additive elements of the TINA-networkForrás: A 8. sz. főút fejlesztési feladatai... UKIG Hálózatfejlesztési Főosztálya 2000. szept. 13


Model of an effective inter-regional corridor system in Hungary

Main elements: three east-west corridors, four north-south corridors and additional rectangular elements.

The model also demonstrate two sensitive areas, the resort area of lake Balaton and the conurbation of Budapest as avoidable zones for transit.

Thick line shows the suggested crossing of the country by the two most important pan-European corridors (No. 4-and No. 5)

A possible inter-regional corridor network structure in Hungary

A possible inter-regional corridor network structure in Hungary

Forrás: Fleischer Tamás – Magyar Emőke – Tombácz Endre – Zsikla György (2001): A Széchenyi Terv autópálya-fejlesztési programjának stratégiai környezeti hatásvizsgálata. 109 p. A Budapesti Közgazdaságtudományi és Államigazgatási Egyetem Környezettudományi Intézetének tanulmányai, 6. szám. Sorozatszerkesztő Kerekes Sándor és Kiss Károly. Budapest, 2001 december

And the official motorway network development plan „Sztrada express” GKM 2003

Patkó Károly: Útjavítók (1928)

Summary of the general findings

Among the aspects of a sustainable transport system, the lecture picked out those relating to a network system.

Focusing on the spatial dimension of sustainability we stressed the impor-tance of the spatial self-defence in calming the effects of externally led quick changes. Internal networks, internal structure, improvement of spatial adaptivity - these are considered to be the key-elements of the spatial sustainability.

Transport networks have important role in reserving the internal structure. Physical networks reserve as a memory the structure of earlier internal (economic, social) relations, and are able to conserve these relations.

Now-a-day we see the construction of a new relation level. The motorway corridors planned actually are not fit to the network requirements of the sustainability. Their priority oppresses the other elements of a multi-functional and multi-layer system; beyond that the corridors in themselves are planned in a mistaken structure.

DILEMMAS OF THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN TRANSPORT POLICY IN THE TIME OF THE EUROPEAN

ENLARGEMENT

Tamás Fleischer Institute for World Economics

of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences<http://www.vki.hu/~tfleisch>

<[email protected]>

Lecture at the University of Osnabrück

Europäische Integration und gesellschaftlicher Strukturwandel

Osnabrück, 23 June, 2004.

THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !

dilemmas of the central european transport policy in the time of the european enlargement tamás...

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