Response from the Danish Government

to the Commission Green Paper:

TEN-T – A policy review.

Towards a better integrated transeuropean transport network at the

service of the common transport policy

The Danish Government finds that the development of the transeuropeantransport networks is a very important element in the contribution from thetransport sector to the economical development in the European Union ingeneral and to the realization of the Internal Market in particular.The concept of transeuropean transport networks has since the mid ninetiesgiven an essential contribution to the realisation of major infrastructureprojects across the European Union. A succesful example of this is the FixedLink across Øresund, which was opened in 2000 and now is a decisive elementin the integration across Øresund of the Copenhagen-Malmo region.Another example that the present legal framework has worked well is priorityproject no. 20 (Railway corridor between Øresund and Hamburg – (Hannover)including a fixed road and railway Link across the Fehmarn Belt). Based on atreaty between Denmark and Germany signed in September 2008 the work ondesign and construction of the Fixed Link across the Fehmarn Belt is nowongoing. The project including the railway connections in the hinterland of theFixed Link is planned to be finalised in 2018. In this way the basis fortransport by rail of the major part of the expected increase of the goodstransport between Scandinavia and the European Continent will be createdwithin the framework of the transeuropean transport networks.It is the view of the Danish Government, that the concept of transeuropeantransport nets including specific priority projects should continue as anessential element in the development of key transport infrastructure togetherwith national plans for transport infrastructure.The development and the application of intelligent transport systems (ITS)should play a significant role within all transport modes in the future TEN-Tpolicy.

As far as the concept of ‘Motorways of the Sea’ is concerned the DanishGovernment emphasises the need for continued focus on general infrastructureinvestments when funding specific projects.The further development of the TEN-T policy should focus on the interactionbetween the transport modes (co-modality) including ports. This calls foroptimizing access from the seaside to ports and hinterland rail and roadconnections to/from the ports. Inland waterways must be taken into accountwhere appropriate. Finally the efficiency of ports must be seen as an importantcontributor to the development of the competitiveness of short sea shipping.Regarding the future development model concerning the legal basis for thedevelopment of transeuropean transport networks the view of the DanishGovernment is the following:Option 1 (present model)A continued application of the present guidelines for the development of thetranseuropean transport networks consisting of a comprehensive network ofdifferent transport modes + horizontal measures supplemented with a set ofpriority projects should not be ruled out. This model has proven its worth overmany years and the results, which have been achieved, should not be neglected.Option 2 (Single lawyer of priority projects)This option is too narrow to meet future challenges of the TEN-T policy. Such aunilateral model would lack adequate flexibility to adjust to varying conditionsin member states.Option 3 (Two layer-model with a comprehensive network, a core networkbased on priority projects and an instrument for defining new priority projects)The Danish Government can support a further elaboration of this optionconsisting of two lawyers: a comprehensive network like in the present modeland a core network based on the present priority projects, the latter beingsupplemented with a ‘conceptual pillar’ with tools to define new projects ofCommunity importance on a common, objective basis. However, there is a needto clarify this concept of a ‘conceptual pillar’ to make it ‘workable�.