Integrated transport and environment strategies in ACs

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The Cardiff Council in 1998 started the process of integrating transport and environment policies in the EU. Seven Member States have adopted such strategies (Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) and they are being developed in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Spain.

The EU Transport Council invited the ACs 'to follow the integration principle as it is being developed in the Community when formulating national and local strategies during the preaccession period' (European Council, 1999). An 'enlargement and transport' working group has been established under the Commission's Joint Expert Group (JEG) on Transport and Environment. This working group assists the Commission in developing policies for a sustainable transport system in an enlarged EU, and will also propose actions and measures that should lead to the implementation of the Council strategy on transport and environment in ACs at an early stage.

To date, four ACs have introduced a legal requirement to produce an integrated transport and environment strategy (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and the Slovak Republic) (IEEP, 2001), but only Poland and the Slovak Republic have developed such strategies. Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia have drafted transport development plans that also include some environmental considerations.

The ACs and Member States are also involved in other international environmental policy developments, which require inter-institutional cooperation and strategy development, and also include transport objectives and actions.