Ecological Modernization and the Trans-European Transport Network

Abstract

In international politics the European Union is widely known for its leading role in addressing global environmental problems and its striving for sustainable development (‘normative power Europe’). At its 2001 Gothenburg summit, the European Council committed itself to a strategy for sustainable development, explicitly including sustainable transport. At the same time, however, the EU’s Lisbon strategy, agreed upon in 2000, intends to make the European economy the most competitive in the world. In order to facilitate the attainment of this goal, the EU tries to eliminate as many barriers as possible, including barriers with respect to transport infrastructure.