Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network

The European Parliament adopted the report drafted by Philip BRADBOURN (EPP-ED, UK) on the trans-European transport network. (Please refer to the document dated 18/04/02.) Parliament stated that the network must: -ensure the sustainable mobility of persons and goods within an area without internal frontiers under the best possible social and safety conditions, while helping to achieve the Community's objectives, particularly regarding the environment and competition, and contribute to strengthening economic and social cohesion; -be fully compatible with Community environmental legislation; -contribute to decoupling economic growth from transport growth and therefore to reducing the latter; -offer users high-quality infrastructure on acceptable economic terms; -include all modes of transport, taking account of their comparative advantages; -allow the optimal use of existing capacities; -be, insofar as possible, interoperable within modes of transport and encourage intermodality between the different modes of transport; -be, insofar as possible, economically viable; -cover the whole territory of the Member States so as to facilitate access in general, and link island, landlocked and peripheral regions to the central regions and interlink without bottlenecks the major conurbations and regions; -be capable of connection to EFTA states and CEEC and Mediterranean states. �