THE CORRIDOR PROJECT IN BRIEF

The pan-European Corridor concept

The concept of pan-European transport policy and corridors was born during the preparatory work for the 1st Pan-European Transport Conference organised by the European Union (Commission, Parliament) and the European Conference of the Ministries of Transport (ECMT) in 1991 in Prague. The purpose was to speed up the development of transport routes throughout Europe and to further contribute to smoother economic exchanges. With the enlargement process becoming a priority in Europe, the corridor concept started gaining ground. The Corridors were defined in their actual form by the 3rd Pan-European Transport Conference in Helsinki, 1997.

The ITF / ETF role within the general Corridor policy

The ITF and ETF, have been actively engaged in the promotion of cooperation between social partners and other policy making actors along the Corridors. At the above mentioned Helsinki conference the large trade union delegation participating in the 3rd Pan-European Transport Conference and The Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC)* played a decisive role in the formal recognition, as a basic principle, of the 'consultation of socio-economic groups with regard to transport policy development'. The ITF and ETF have committed to play a coordinating role, at the level of regional trade union movement, so that to insure that the interests of their member unions are reflected in the Corridor policy, be it national or regional.

*The Economic and Social Committee is the consultative body of the three main EU institutions: the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The Pan-European Corridor Project

The Pan-European Corridor Project was developed by the ETF and ITF in 2000 with the aims to:

1. Consolidate inter-modal working structures at national level, particularly the National Coordination Committees;

2. To expand cross-section* , regional cooperation between the transport unions along the 10 pan-European Transport Corridors;

3. To stimulate the dialogue with the socio-economic interest groups in the transport industry;

4. To ensure the trade unions' stake in the consultation process in all aspects of transport policy (at both national and regional levels);

5. To deepen the joint analysis of the transport and social policies of the EU.

The project falls under the broader ITF "trade union education and development policy", and includes a series of seminars and conferences as well as a study visit for corridor coordinators aimed at building capacity for regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe - to be held in the period 2002-2003. In addition, an opening seminar marked the start of the project and an evaluation seminar will be held at the end of the project.

In November 2001, the FNV formally agreed to fund the Corridor Project. Five months later, in March 2002, the Opening Seminar was held, preceded by an Opening Conference.

* The ITF and ETF have 8 transport sections: civil aviation, fisheries, inland navigation, ports, railways, road transport, seafarers and tourism services.

New developments in the European transport policy

The Project comes:

only six months after the official release of the European Commission's White Paper on Transport - a strategy paper to set the guidelines of the EU transport policy up to year 2010. Complete opening of the common transport market; connecting the Trans European Transport Network with the pan-European Corridors; a switch in the use of the transport modes; complete liberalisation of the railway transport - both passengers and freight are only a few relevant aspects defined by the Paper;
in the context of an increasing interest and need for better consultations in regional transport policy, at both European (ECOSOC) and corridor (employers' associations) levels;
within the context of significant developments in Corridor IV and X; and of the stand-by situation along Corridor VII, the Danube, with a critical impact on the economy and labour in the concerned countries.