Transport Policy
For the EU’s goal to have an efficient and dynamic economy and cohesive society the crucial issue is to move goods and people as quickly, cheaply and efficiently as possible. This concept is reflected by proper transport policy.
If EU wants to have an integrated and prosperous economy it has to built up an effective transport system. Therefore the main concern of transport with regards to the economy involves several important aspects [1, 25.p.]:
• support the process of Single Market;
• promote sustainable development;
• creating appropriate infrastructure to reduce disparity among regions;
• provide and improve safety;
• establish relations with third countries etc.
At the end it is also important to mention that EU system of transport does not necessarily stop at EU borders, it might continue even further if a non member country has an agreement with the EU concerning the transport issues.
The road haulage is one of the major concerns of the EU transport policy because it is the major means of transporting goods within the region. Firstly, this area has been the main concern for the transport policy mainly because it is the most important mode of transport and both “international and domestic freight transport have been subjected to a variety of controls and restrictions in terms of prices and entry into market” [2, p.84].
How much restricted control is applied varies from one country to another? For example while Germany applied strict regulatory controls, UK used more liberal approach towards such issue. However the main principle of international haulage is characterized by the use of so-called quota system, meaning that haulers have to obtain the permit to be able to undertake international journeys. One form of permit is so called Bilateral permit, which is mainly about two particular member states who make a bilateral agreements about the amount of haulage licenses to be granted to non-domestic carries.
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