TRANSPORT POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Transportation is an important challenge in the territory of the European Union as the organization keeps growing constantly from the original 6 members, concentrated in Western Europe, to a wider organization including East Europe, and soon all the Balkan Region. The big differences in terms of infrastructure among the member states of the EU are a consequence of their different level of development and different recent history as the ex-communist area presents higher deficiencies in terms of transportation. Nevertheless all the members of the European Union need to be connected to each other in order to benefit as much as possible from one of the main pillars of the organization, the Common European Market. If there are no transport connections, there is not integrated market. The development of the transport policy is also influenced by the protection of the environment and the pollution caused by the transport system in terms of emissions and the environmental cost of the infrastructures needed. Hence, the European Institutions have to work in a difficult position taking into consideration all the necessities and possibilities of the member states, promoting those actions to increase the development of connections in the European level, from a wider perspective than the traditional national plans. The success of the European Union in this important field will determine the speed of integration in other areas and the necessity of increasing the links between the member states of the European Union to assure that its benefits reach the whole communitarian territory.