TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES IN THE EC

This paper deals with the complex relationship between transport and the environment and describes and discusses the relevant policies adopted by the EC. The major transport related environmental impacts are briefly analysed and analytical data regarding traffic and infrastructure statistics for all EC countries are presented, in order to understand the trends and prospects for the year 2000. Community policies associated with both environment and transport are then classified and the relevant directives or other legislation are mentioned under the different headings. The discussion argues that, although the effort to formulate a comprehensive EC policy has made considerable progress, a lot has still to be done in order to clarify where the goals for transport improvements with simultaneous environmental protection are conflicting, or where there is simply no provision or action foreseen.