INITIATIVES TO SOLVE BORDER PROBLEMS

Two main initiatives have been set up to improve border crossings between countries in eastern and western Europe. A Pan-European Transport Conference in Crete in 1994 identified 10 multi-modal corridors spanning eastern Europe and linking up with the western European network. The European Commission set up the Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment (Tina) in 1996 to oversee and coordinate the development of an integrated transport network in ten European countries that were applying to join the EU. The director of the East-West Division of the International Union of Railways (UIC) sees the Crete corridors as a short and medium-term approach geared towards the market and covering the whole of eastern Europe whilst Tina is considered to be a long-term approach defining a network in terms of its infrastructure but taking little account of the market or traffic that will use it. The UIC's Action Border Crossing project is part of a programme designed to identify problems with the new railway corridors and to develop solutions. The UIC has also launched a study called Schengenrail relating to access to the Schengen area, which covers 13 EU members plus Norway and Iceland.