The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea is a pilot project in the area of macro-regional strategies developed with the purpose of reaching a sustainable development in these specific regions through cooperation between the concerned states and regions through a coordinated use of all funds and instruments available in these regions.
Thus, the European Parliament emphasises that it is a priority to create an effective and environmentally friendly sea, land and inland transport and communication network (with the sea network giving a prominent role to the transport of goods) that can anticipate and respond in a timely fashion to current and future challenges, taking account of the provisions of the updated version of the Natura 2000 document and paying particular attention to links between the Baltic Sea region and other European regions through the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor and the Central European Transport Corridor. The EP also considers enhanced connections, involving all modes of transport, to represent an essential contribution to the development of a stronger, more cohesive economy in the Baltic Sea Region and stresses the specific situation of the Baltic States, which to a large extent are currently isolated from the European transport network, and takes the view that this strategy should, inter alia, help to address the lack of appropriate infrastructure and accessibility, as well as low interoperability between various national transport networks owing to different technical systems and administrative barriers, in order to develop a comprehensive multimodal transport system across the Baltic Sea Region.
In the proposed resolution, the European Parliament underlines the importance of integrating the Baltic Sea Region more closely into the TEN-T priority axes, in particular with regard to the extending the rail axis from Berlin to the Baltic coast (TEN-T 1), improving the rail axis from Berlin to the Baltic coast in combination with the Rostock-Denmark Seaway connection, and making more rapid progress in upgrading and using the Rail Baltica axis (TEN-T 27) and also emphasises the need to complete the interconnections between the Baltic Sea Region and other European regions via the Baltic-Adriatic corridor.
It is also important to enhance the Baltic Sea Region’s transport capacity towards the east, in particular in order to promote transport interoperability, especially for railways, and to speed up freight transit at the borders of the European Union.
The Strategy also points out the need for effective cross-border coordination and cooperation between rail, seaports, inland ports, hinterland terminals and logistics in order to develop a more sustainable intermodal transport system.
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