Thesis is amimed at transport, its development within European union and finally EU transport policy. It focuses on specific issues and strategies that affect all european countries such as development of Trans-European Transport Network.

Flera saknade länkar i Europas transportnät definierades på mitten av 1980-talet som nödvändiga att bygga för att bidra till att uppnå de EU-politiska målen om fri rörlighet inom gemenskapen, större och jämnare transportflöden inom och mellan medlemsstaterna, ekonomisk tillväxt, en friktionsfri och välfungerande inre marknad, hållbar utveckling samt territoriell, social och ekonomisk sammanhållning. EU och medlemsstaterna initierade mot denna bakgrund transportinfrastrukturprogrammet "Trans-European Networks for Transport", eller det transeuropeiska transportnätverket (TEN-T) på svenska, som en följd av Maastrichtfördraget 1992. I Norden ska den s.k. Nordiska triangeln, som både har pekats ut som ett särskilt prioriterat transportinfrastrukturprojekt i de nu gällande och sannolikt inom kort i de nya EU-riktlinjerna för TEN-T, bidra till att uppnå de ovanstående politiska målen. Syftet med projektet är att sammanbinda Norge, Sverige, Danmark och Finland via uppgraderade och gränsöverskridande vägar, järnvägar och maritim infrastruktur. Förutom att projektet anses förbättra förbindelserna för gods och passagerare inom Norden, skapas bättre möjligheter för större och snabbare transportflöden till och från Centraleuropa, Ryssland och de baltiska länderna. Det västra benet i den Nordiska triangeln, dvs. korridoren Oslo-Göteborg-Köpenhamn, har varit föremål för diskussion sedan 1980-talet då en högklassig motorväg, järnväg samt en fast förbindelse över eller under Öresund och Fehmarn Bält föreslogs av "European Round Table of Industrialists". Syftet med infrastrukturpaketet var att förbättra transportinfrastrukturen inom korridoren samt få en fast förbindelse till kontinenten. Merparten av paketet har genomförts men en del kvarstår, däribland uppgraderingen av järnvägen, vars planläggning försvåras av det faktum att nationsgränserna medför utmaningar och hinder mot ett förverkligande av detta gränsöverskridande projekt. Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att identifiera och analysera dessa utmaningar och hinder, liksom att ge underlag för förslag i effektiv hantering och motverkan. Med utgångspunkt i institutionell teori och i transaktionskostnadsteori har studien visat att bristen på samordning och internationalisering i transportinfrastrukturplaneringen, med stor sannolikhet, utgör centrala faktorer i förklaringen till varför de tre berörda skandinaviska länderna sedan 1980-talet inte har realiserat en sammanhängande och av alla parter upplevd högklassig järnväg. För att kunna motverka och hantera dessa utmaningar och hinder på ett effektivt sätt bör Norge, Sverige och Danmark överväga att ta större hänsyn till gränsöverskridande infrastrukturplanering i framtida organisations- och styrmodeller för transportinfrastruktursektorn. Anledningen är att den nuvarande institutionella ramen för tillhandahållandet av transportinfrastruktur, förefaller ge upphov till höga transaktionskostnader som försvårar och förhindrar effektiv planering på inter-/multinationell nivå. Ett faktum som kan leda till att eventuellt nödvändig och lönsam transportinfrastruktur inte byggs. En organisatorisk lösning som diskuteras i uppsatsen, och som kan reducera dessa transaktionskostnader, är bildandet av ett Skandinaviskt Trafikverk med internationaliserade och harmoniserade planeringsprocesser. / A number of missing links in the European transport network was, during the mid 1980ies, defined as crucial for the smooth functioning of the internal market, and for ensuring sustainable development, economic growth, improved accessibility as well as economic, social and territorial cohesion. This lead in 1992 to the inclusion of a specific legal basis for the "Trans-European Networks for Transport" (TEN-T) in the Maastricht Treaty. The Nordic Triangle has, since the initiation of TEN-T in 1992, been considered as a priority transport infrastructure project. This is stated in the current and in the proposal for new EU-guidelines for TEN-T. The aim of the project is to contribute to the achievement of the above-mentioned political goals by building and upgrading roads, railways and maritime infrastructure between the Nordic countries. This is thought to improve the passenger and freight transports within the Nordic region but also to central Europe, the Baltic countries and Russia. The western leg of the Nordic Triangle, i.e. the corridor Oslo-Gothenburg-Copenhagen, has been of interest since the 1980s when a continuous motorway, high-speed railways and fixed links over/under the Oresund and the Fehmarn Belt were proposed by the European Round Table of Industrialists. The aim of the infrastructure package was to improve the transport infrastructure in the corridor, and via the above-mentioned tunnel/bridge projects, receive fixed links to central Europe. The majority of these plans have been implemented but some remain unrealized, including the railways, whose planning is complicated by the fact that the national borders poses challenges and obstacles to the realization of this cross-border infrastructure project. The aim of this paper has been to identify and analyze these challenges and obstacles, and provide proposals on how to restrain and mitigate them. Based on institutional theory and transaction cost theory it was found that the lack of coordination and internationalization in transport infrastructure planning, are two key factors, that explains why the countries in question have not managed to plan and build a continuous and sufficient railway. In order to restrain and mitigate these challenges and obstacles in an efficient way, one must consider to take greater account of cross-border planning in organizational and governance models for the transport infrastructure sector. The fact that the current institutional framework for the provision of transport infrastructure seems to give rise to high transaction costs, that impede or prevent efficient cross-border planning, makes this reasoning even more relevant. An organizational solution that is discussed is the formation of a transnational Scandinavian Transport Administration.

Tato práce se zabývá rozvojem dopravní infrastruktury Ústeckého kraje a využitím fondů EU pro její spolufinancování. V první části práce je podána základní charakteristika kraje s podrobným popisem celé sítě jeho dopravní infrastruktury. Následuje vyhodnocení dopravní infrastruktury a analýza potřeb jejího rozvoje s výběrem několika klíčových projektů. Třetí kapitola poskytuje přehled finančních nástrojů rozvoje dopravní infrastruktury využívaných v ČR, největší část je věnována fondům EU a operačním programům v období 2004-2006. Ve čtvrté kapitole jsou pak popsány konkrétní projekty podporované fondy EU v Ústeckém kraji s celkovou analýzou využití prostředků EU v období 2004-2006. Nakonec pátá kapitola ozřejmí velký potenciál programovacího období 2007-2013 pro rozvoji dopravní infrastruktury. Možnosti využití operačních programů jsou nastíněny na potenciálních projektech v Ústeckém kraji.

Le « corridor méditerranéen » est à la rencontre d'un projet ferroviaire espagnol datant des années 1920 et d'un projet inscrit dans la planification des réseaux transeuropéens de transport depuis les années 1990. La thèse s'intéresse à l'axe littoral qu'il désigne, comprenant des villes, des activités et un ensemble d'infrastructures. Elle part du constat que le corridor méditerranéen doit être inscrit dans un contexte territorial multiple. Il est pérenne par son inscription dans le temps long de la construction et de l'aménagement du territoire espagnol, mais changeant dans la temporalité politique de la planification et de ses phases successives. Enfin, il est multiscalaire par son inscription dans le jeu institutionnel et ses impacts territoriaux. Nous faisons l'hypothèse qu'en Espagne, le corridor méditerranéen interagit avec les enjeux politiques et économiques, au point qu'il ne peut être considéré comme un simple projet de transport (pour l'heure non matérialisé par une infrastructure), mais doit être envisagé dans sa dimension politique. À la croisée de ces enjeux, la thèse prend le parti d'une approche territoriale – à la différence de la majorité des travaux – qui permet d'aborder le corridor méditerranéen sous l'angle de son inscription dans l'espace, en prenant en compte aussi bien les problèmes économiques et politiques qui façonnent le territoire du corridor en amont que les implications du projet sur ce territoire à toutes les échelles en aval. La thèse pose deux questions centrales. Il s'agit d'abord de comprendre comment un objet, au départ un projet d'infrastructures inscrit dans un processus de prise de décision en matière d'aménagement du territoire, devient un facteur puissant de recomposition des jeux d'acteurs et de réinterprétation des paradigmes de l'aménagement des territoires à toutes les échelles. Il s'agit ensuite d'interroger la dialectique entre les différents échelons institutionnels d'une part et entre les différentes échelles territoriales (européenne, nationale, régionale et locale) d'autre part. L'inscription du projet dans les territoires peut se faire à travers différentes formes de territorialisation, matérielles ou immatérielles, de la construction d'équipements ferroviaires à la modification du jeu des acteurs dans un territoire donné autour du projet de corridor. On assiste à un double processus de politisation des intérêts locaux par l'action des associations d'entreprises au niveau régional, et de dépolitisation du débat sur le corridor par le biais de l'européanisation du projet. En s'appuyant sur un ensemble de méthodes fondées principalement sur la pratique d'entretiens, ainsi que sur l'étude des documents de planification et des manifestations du corridor méditerranéen dans le débat public, cette thèse a permis de faire émerger trois résultats principaux. Premièrement, par sa plasticité, le corridor méditerranéen devient un objet politique : il désigne à la fois un projet d'infrastructures aux caractéristiques mouvantes et un catalyseur d'intérêts de nature différente autour d'un objectif commun. Deuxièmement, le corridor méditerranéen, parce qu'il correspond à des représentations territoriales et à des objectifs différents, ne peut s'incarner comme infrastructure car sa matérialité lui ôterait son statut de fédérateur d'intérêts et détruirait l'unité fragile créée autour de sa revendication. Cette impossibilité du corridor méditerranéen est ce qui en fait un excellent médiateur entre les différents acteurs. Troisièmement, le corridor méditerranéen est au centre d'un processus multiple de territorialisation, répondant aux trois sens de ce terme : il apparaît comme un avatar, parmi d'autres, des grandes structures spatiales européennes et espagnoles ; il est un facteur d'émergence de structures territoriales nouvelles par ses impacts sur les territoires locaux ; il permet la recomposition du jeu des acteurs autour d'un projet, dans une réalité spatiale qui lui est propre / The Mediterranean corridor stands at the meeting point of a Spanish railway project in the 1920s and a second project which has formed part of the Trans-European Networks of Transport since the 1990s. The subject is thus this coastal axis, including cities, activities and infrastructure. The bottom line is the idea that the Mediterranean corridor has to be placed in a territorial context that is plural. Indeed, it is both perennial, within the scope of the long-term timeline of the construction and planning of the Spanish territory, and evolving within the political temporality of the planning process and its successive stages. It also has an inherent multiscalar component due to the institutional process and to its impact on the territory. Our hypothesis is that in Spain the corridor involves an interaction with the political and economic questions, so that it cannot be simply considered as a transport project (yet not materialized by infrastructure), and should rather be tackled through its political dimension. Right at the meeting point of these stakes, we have chosen to use a territorial approach, contrary to the majority of works that have been dedicated to this subject. This territorial angle makes it possible to study the Mediterranean corridor through its spatial dimension, taking into account both the economic and political questions that shape the corridor in its territorial aspect and the various implications of the project on this territory at all scales. This thesis develops two main ideas. The first ambition of this work is to understand how this project, which began as a plan for infrastructure as part of a decision-making process regarding spatial planning, then became a powerful factor in the rearticulation of the roles of the different stakeholders and the reinterpretation of the paradigms of planning at all scales. We will then be able to investigate the dialectics between the various institutional levels on the one hand and between the various territorial scales (European, national, regional and local) on the other hand. The integration of the project within the territories can be performed through different forms of territorialisation, both material and immaterial, from the construction of railway equipment to the rearticulation of the roles of the stakeholders within a given territory. We therefore witness a double process of politisation of the local interests through the action of business associations at the regional level, and depolitisation of the debate about the corridor as the project reaches a European level. Three key outcomes emerged from this work based on a methodology relying mainly on interviews as well as the study of planning documentation and the manifestations of the Mediterranean corridor in the public debate. The first idea is that, given its plasticity, the corridor becomes indeed a political subject: it is both a project for infrastructure with evolving characteristics and a catalyst gathering different interests around a common objective. Secondly, as it corresponds to different territorial representations and objectives, the Mediterranean corridor cannot be materialized as infrastructure because this materiality would deprive it from its role as a federator of interests and would therefore destroy the fragile unity that was made possible by its claim. This inherent material impossibility of the Mediterranean corridor is at the same time a fundamental component of its position as a mediator between the different stakeholders. Finally, being at the centre of a territorialisation process that is indeed plural, the Mediterranean corridor echoes all three meanings of this concept: it is one of the avatars of the major European and Spanish spatial structures; it is also a factor of the emergence of new territorial structures at a local scale; and it allows a reorganisation of the interactions of the different stakeholders around a project, within its very own spatial manifestation

This thesis analyses the process of the creation of the Pan-European Transport Network connecting the European Union with the neighbouring regions and Caucasus and Central Asia in the long run. The thesis focuses on the incentives in establishing a continental transport network stemming from the nature of the capitalist relations between market and national and supranational forces in the margins of the global economy. In this context, the parallel processes of the acceleration of the European integration and the establishment of the Pan-European Transport Network are explored. Furthermore, in the thesis, the components of the Pan-European Transport Network, namely the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T), the Pan-European Transport Corridors and Areas (including Turkey), and the Eurasian transport routes are analysed. The thesis seeks to show that the Pan-European Transport Network has been planned to ensure the economic and political cohesion of the European Union and regulate the trade relations between Europe and Asia, including the transportation of the energy resources. The lack of specific analyses on the main problem of the thesis and the incrementalism in the processes of the European integration and development of the Pan-European Transport Network induce the interpretation of the raw and first hand information, such as technical reports, intergovernmental declarations, official documents, speeches and press releases.

This master thesis focuses on the Trans-European Transport Network and especially on the possibilities of financing the TEN-T with private-sector participation. The thesis is devided in three chapters. In the first part of the thesis, the author discusses the importance of transport in the economy of the European Union and summarises the development, principles and objectives of the Common Transport Policy. The concept of the Trans-European Network is also introduced in this chapter. The key documents related to the TEN-T are briefly summarized and the gains and lasting setbacks of the TEN-T are discussed in this part of the thesis. The second chapter provides an overview of the costs of the TEN-T and the existing possibilities of their financing. The last chapter introduces the Public Private Partnerhip as a possible efficient means of the TEN-T financing.

Road transport is most commonly used out of other modes in terms of freight and passenger transportation on local and regional levels. For European citizens it is a primary mean of their access to services, social activities and employment. The scope of road infrastructure differs in some regions. The major disparity appears when the East of Europe is compared with the West. Actions to link periphery with the core of Europe are being continuously performed, what in this case represents itself in constructing Pan-European Transport Corridors, which will contribute to the connection of the whole territory of Europe. The Via Baltica, chosen as a case for this thesis, is a route to connect Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, Budzisko and Warsaw. It is the common initiative of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. In addition, it is to be an express road and part of the I Pan-European Transport Corridor, which is going to connect Baltic countries with the West and South part of Europe. We focus on presenting how the Via Baltica is introduced in official documents and compare it with the process in practice. Our final goal is to assess the planning process of the Via Baltica route in Poland according to top down planning approaches and sustainability criteria. We are trying to find out what are the advantages and disadvantages of the ongoing process. After introducing results of the analysis made for the Via Baltica by Polish experts, we present how stakeholders and local authorities try to reinforce the process, regardless of environmental issues, to achieve economic and social profits. As the result we try find out how are the dimensions of sustainable development handled in the Via Baltica case in Poland. The conclusions are based on our findings concerning several conflicts which appeared during the planning process. They are also based on one-dimension as well as multi-criteria analyses. / angelikakowalczyk@o2.pl monika.m.kustra@gmail.com