Post by insomniac on Feb 2, 2010 17:44:32 GMT -5
[Comment] A pathway to prosperity
GERASIMOS TSOURAPAS AND THEODORE COULOUMBIS
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The late Karl W. Deutsch, a renowned political scientist, is probably best remembered for having introduced, some decades ago, the concept of the security community.
Given his careful study of the Allies' failed 1919 attempts at achieving peace through the weakening and isolation of Germany, Prague-born Mr Deutsch proposed that it is only through successful regional integration or, more ambitiously, through independent states' unification that "men some day might abolish war."
While the application of the security community framework to the European Union (EU) has not ceased to fascinate scholars, there can be little doubt that, as far as the Western Balkans is concerned, the progress of regional integration leaves a lot to be desired. This is particularly true in the neglected transport sector, which could potentially serve as the area's most potent catalyst towards growth and stability.
Accustomed to enjoying an extensive transport network, West Europeans tend to forget that efficient transport routes are not simply a prerequisite to growth - they have historically been linked to genuine social and economic development.
European seaports, the foundations of the Age of Discovery, generated the building of canal systems and, later on, the construction of railways which underpinned the Industrial Revolution and paved the way for the invention of the combustion engine. Through time a vast road and rail network has been put in place in the developed regions of the world since the early days of the 20th century. Indeed, today's globalised world would have been less 'flat' without labyrinthine transport networks.
Europeans frequently overlook that not everyone in their continent enjoys a high level of transport services. In fact, in the only remaining region that is undoubtedly "European" and yet a few years away from joining the EU, transport integration does not appear high on the Western Balkans' agenda:
Government budgets are unable to fund the planning, construction and maintenance of regional road networks, resulting in congested or dangerous routes, and leading some to doubt the completion of even highly publicised projects, such as the Albania-Kosovo Highway.
National airlines are competing with one another when they should be entering into strategic partnerships, taking advantage of the region's small size and potential for co-operation. High ticket prices and heavy government subsidies result in limited air traffic which, annually, for a region of 26 million inhabitants, is one fifth that of Vienna's airport alone.
Hoping for the best
There is no commercial rail track linking Albania to neighboring countries. Montenegro is only connected to Serbia, while Skopje remains unconnected to Sofia. Existing rail lines are predominantly single-track, some not yet electrified, traversed by antiquated trains, most of an average age of over 30 years. This means that to move cargo from Tirana to Sofia, through Skopje, by rail (a distance of fewer than 350km), one would have to use a 3-hour train to Shkodra, switch for Podgorica, take the 8-hour train to Belgrade, switch to the 9-hour train ride to Skopje, take the 5-hour train to Thessaloniki, change to the 6-hour train to Sofia, and hope for the best.
A 350km-long train journey in the region could take over 31 hours (Photo: Wikipedia.org)
Such non-tariff barriers have an indisputable impact upon trade efficiency, and in times of an economic slowdown their effects can be devastating. It is worth noting that Southeastern Europe has already joined the rest of the continent in being gravely affected by the ongoing financial crisis. The €3 billion emergency deal that Serbia, the region's largest economy, signed with the IMF, the contraction of Croatian GDP by more than 5 percent in 2009 and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's extremely high unemployment rate (having reached the mid to high '30s in 2009) are but a few examples of the global recession's effects on the region.
Why aren't we doing more to address regional transport deficiencies?
Lack of adequate funding, for one, prevents the simultaneous construction of rail, road, air and maritime facilities in the entire region. This is especially true during an economic crisis, when governments' stimulus plans often choose to focus more on market reinvigoration than infrastructure investment.
From a Brussels perspective, the development of a comprehensive transport policy for the area has been an onerous task. This is mainly due to the fact that some Balkan countries are already EU members, a few others have been granted official candidate status and access to meaningful funding, while others still have only recently declared independence. On the local level, inefficient prioritisation procedures have not allowed for the early completion of the area's most vital projects. Ethnic rivalries, corruption and pure inefficiency have also undermined efforts towards regional transport integration.
There is growing concern in the relevant literature for the need of increased transport integration in the Western Balkans. The benefits of transport efficiency have already been recognized in Brussels, which points out that transport accounts for "about 7 percent of GDP and more than 5 percent of total employment in the EU."
In the Western Balkans, improved transport routes would mean that the high trade balance deficits that torment the region would be reduced, given that efficient transport infrastructure would result in increased factor mobility, higher levels of output, and better market accessibility. As a result, lower commodity prices, new employment opportunities, and faster GDP growth would follow. Intraregional trade would also be increased (a refreshing consequence, given that Albania, for example, currently directs more than 90 percent of its exports to non-Western Balkans countries), tourism revenues would grow and and social mobility would accelerate.
No panaceas
We are not arguing here that transport integration constitutes a panacea for all the area's troubles. Nor can we prescribe quick fixes towards this goal. We merely posit that the question of transport infrastructure development should be higher up on the agenda of both Brussels and the Western Balkans' political leaderships. The restraints imposed by the current economic crisis should not deter governments from meeting this goal. Increased private-public partnerships through more encouraging legal and regulatory frameworks, third-country infrastructure investments or targeted EU-aid could help move the transport integration process along.
Of course, other initiatives are also important (for example, the visa-liberalisation process or the establishment of free-trade areas), but efficient cross-country transport is a sine qua non for the region's progress and for European integration. In other words, what good is it cheering for Montenegro's achievement of visa-free travel to the EU, when a Montenegrin can only take a train to Belgrade?
In sum, followers of Mr Deutsch' proven ideas should rightly expect that the spillover effects of intraregional integration in the Western Balkans will pave the way for the smooth and absorbable entry of this tried and tested region into the European Union.
At a time of great uncertainty, when dire economic hardship threatens the region's hard-earned stability, efforts towards deeper transport integration would not only revive the countries' ailing economies, they would pave the way for closer regional co-operation, essentially killing two birds with one stone. And that's a deal that, given the current economic climate, the Western Balkans should not miss.
euobserver.com/9/29365
GERASIMOS TSOURAPAS AND THEODORE COULOUMBIS
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The late Karl W. Deutsch, a renowned political scientist, is probably best remembered for having introduced, some decades ago, the concept of the security community.
Given his careful study of the Allies' failed 1919 attempts at achieving peace through the weakening and isolation of Germany, Prague-born Mr Deutsch proposed that it is only through successful regional integration or, more ambitiously, through independent states' unification that "men some day might abolish war."
While the application of the security community framework to the European Union (EU) has not ceased to fascinate scholars, there can be little doubt that, as far as the Western Balkans is concerned, the progress of regional integration leaves a lot to be desired. This is particularly true in the neglected transport sector, which could potentially serve as the area's most potent catalyst towards growth and stability.
Accustomed to enjoying an extensive transport network, West Europeans tend to forget that efficient transport routes are not simply a prerequisite to growth - they have historically been linked to genuine social and economic development.
European seaports, the foundations of the Age of Discovery, generated the building of canal systems and, later on, the construction of railways which underpinned the Industrial Revolution and paved the way for the invention of the combustion engine. Through time a vast road and rail network has been put in place in the developed regions of the world since the early days of the 20th century. Indeed, today's globalised world would have been less 'flat' without labyrinthine transport networks.
Europeans frequently overlook that not everyone in their continent enjoys a high level of transport services. In fact, in the only remaining region that is undoubtedly "European" and yet a few years away from joining the EU, transport integration does not appear high on the Western Balkans' agenda:
Government budgets are unable to fund the planning, construction and maintenance of regional road networks, resulting in congested or dangerous routes, and leading some to doubt the completion of even highly publicised projects, such as the Albania-Kosovo Highway.
National airlines are competing with one another when they should be entering into strategic partnerships, taking advantage of the region's small size and potential for co-operation. High ticket prices and heavy government subsidies result in limited air traffic which, annually, for a region of 26 million inhabitants, is one fifth that of Vienna's airport alone.
Hoping for the best
There is no commercial rail track linking Albania to neighboring countries. Montenegro is only connected to Serbia, while Skopje remains unconnected to Sofia. Existing rail lines are predominantly single-track, some not yet electrified, traversed by antiquated trains, most of an average age of over 30 years. This means that to move cargo from Tirana to Sofia, through Skopje, by rail (a distance of fewer than 350km), one would have to use a 3-hour train to Shkodra, switch for Podgorica, take the 8-hour train to Belgrade, switch to the 9-hour train ride to Skopje, take the 5-hour train to Thessaloniki, change to the 6-hour train to Sofia, and hope for the best.
A 350km-long train journey in the region could take over 31 hours (Photo: Wikipedia.org)
Such non-tariff barriers have an indisputable impact upon trade efficiency, and in times of an economic slowdown their effects can be devastating. It is worth noting that Southeastern Europe has already joined the rest of the continent in being gravely affected by the ongoing financial crisis. The €3 billion emergency deal that Serbia, the region's largest economy, signed with the IMF, the contraction of Croatian GDP by more than 5 percent in 2009 and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's extremely high unemployment rate (having reached the mid to high '30s in 2009) are but a few examples of the global recession's effects on the region.
Why aren't we doing more to address regional transport deficiencies?
Lack of adequate funding, for one, prevents the simultaneous construction of rail, road, air and maritime facilities in the entire region. This is especially true during an economic crisis, when governments' stimulus plans often choose to focus more on market reinvigoration than infrastructure investment.
From a Brussels perspective, the development of a comprehensive transport policy for the area has been an onerous task. This is mainly due to the fact that some Balkan countries are already EU members, a few others have been granted official candidate status and access to meaningful funding, while others still have only recently declared independence. On the local level, inefficient prioritisation procedures have not allowed for the early completion of the area's most vital projects. Ethnic rivalries, corruption and pure inefficiency have also undermined efforts towards regional transport integration.
There is growing concern in the relevant literature for the need of increased transport integration in the Western Balkans. The benefits of transport efficiency have already been recognized in Brussels, which points out that transport accounts for "about 7 percent of GDP and more than 5 percent of total employment in the EU."
In the Western Balkans, improved transport routes would mean that the high trade balance deficits that torment the region would be reduced, given that efficient transport infrastructure would result in increased factor mobility, higher levels of output, and better market accessibility. As a result, lower commodity prices, new employment opportunities, and faster GDP growth would follow. Intraregional trade would also be increased (a refreshing consequence, given that Albania, for example, currently directs more than 90 percent of its exports to non-Western Balkans countries), tourism revenues would grow and and social mobility would accelerate.
No panaceas
We are not arguing here that transport integration constitutes a panacea for all the area's troubles. Nor can we prescribe quick fixes towards this goal. We merely posit that the question of transport infrastructure development should be higher up on the agenda of both Brussels and the Western Balkans' political leaderships. The restraints imposed by the current economic crisis should not deter governments from meeting this goal. Increased private-public partnerships through more encouraging legal and regulatory frameworks, third-country infrastructure investments or targeted EU-aid could help move the transport integration process along.
Of course, other initiatives are also important (for example, the visa-liberalisation process or the establishment of free-trade areas), but efficient cross-country transport is a sine qua non for the region's progress and for European integration. In other words, what good is it cheering for Montenegro's achievement of visa-free travel to the EU, when a Montenegrin can only take a train to Belgrade?
In sum, followers of Mr Deutsch' proven ideas should rightly expect that the spillover effects of intraregional integration in the Western Balkans will pave the way for the smooth and absorbable entry of this tried and tested region into the European Union.
At a time of great uncertainty, when dire economic hardship threatens the region's hard-earned stability, efforts towards deeper transport integration would not only revive the countries' ailing economies, they would pave the way for closer regional co-operation, essentially killing two birds with one stone. And that's a deal that, given the current economic climate, the Western Balkans should not miss.
euobserver.com/9/29365