Transport in the debate on the future of European cohesion policy

The results of socio-economic research conducted by representatives of various scientific centers and international organizations, whether in the form of case studies or statistical model analyses, confirm the importance of transport infrastructure for regional development, including for the cohesion policy pursued at the level of the entire European Union. However, for its positive impact to be possible, the presence of endogenous potentials of a given region is necessary, for example, an appropriate level of human capital or innovation potential.The importance of transport infrastructure as a necessary but not sufficient factor for regional development is also gaining current dimension in the context of the debate on the future of cohesion policy, in which transport infrastructure is an important factor both enabling the further development of already highly developed regions, the so-called
“growth engines”, but is also a necessary condition for spreading development impulses to underdeveloped and problematic regions.
It should also be emphasized that the debate on the future of cohesion policy is part of broader work on the budget and future EU priorities for the years 2014 – 2020. This therefore has a measurable significance also for transport policy, because it implies both the dependencies between cohesion policy and transport policy, as well as access to funds for infrastructure purposes within the framework of cohesion policy, especially in the situation of proposed suggestions to exclude support for infrastructure development from cohesion policy. Decision-makers consider this aspect key to improving location attractiveness. This confirms the importance they attach to it
The aim of the study is to present the importance of transport in the debate on the future of the European Union’s cohesion policy based on the main documents resulting from individual stages of the debate and the work of external experts supporting decision-making at the EU level. companies when making decisions about the location of investments. It was also noted that by stimulating the achievement of cohesion and bringing regions closer together, investments in transport simultaneously increase competition between regions, which has implications for both employees and enterprises. (…)

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