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32 J. Common Mkt. Stud. 1 (1994)

handle is hein.journals/jcmks32 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Common Market Studies Vol. 32, No. I March 1994 Transport Infrastructure and Region Building in the European Community R.W. VICKERMAN* University of Kent at Canterbury I. Introduction It is clear that whatever the final outcome of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union, there is going to be a continuing search for a means of increasing the cohesion of European Community countries. Furthermore, the push towards widening the Community to include not just EFTA countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, but also east-central European countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics, will continue. It is increasingly recognized that, whether or not there is a rapid move to Economic and Monetary Union, the development of European infrastructure will be a major issue. Within EMU as envisaged in the Maastricht Treaty, this would form part of the structural and cohesion policies necessary to avoid increasing spatial disparities. Without a rapid move to EMU, there is nevertheless a desire to see increased convergence as a prerequisite to reopening the EMU debate. Infrastructure, this article argues, is a key building block of that convergence and cohesion. The European Community has already started to consider this through its plans for spatial development of the Community, entitled Europe 2000 (CEC, 1991) and more specifically through proposals for Trans-European Networks (CEC, 1990, 1992a, b, c). * Revised version of a paper presented to meeting of CIB Working Commission on Infrastructure at North American Regional Science Association Meetings, Chicago, November 1992. Helpful comments by referees and an editor are gratefully acknowledged in improving the presentation of the article. © Basil Blackwell Ltd 1994, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA