Transport policy in the Western Balkans

A treaty establishing a Transport Community is currently being negotiated by the European Commission and Governments of all the Western Balkan countries. This Treaty aims at fostering regional cooperation in the field of transport. Similarly as the Energy Community Treaty does, it also aims at harmonising national legislations of the Western Balkan countries with the acquis, as regards transport and relevant social policies.

Within this policy framework, the EESC recommends to:

• maintain the social dimension as a priority when implementing the treaty establishing a Transport Community. The Social Forum – to be established by the treaty - should be supported in order to become an effective instrument for enhanced sectoral social dialogue at regional level;
• strengthen regional cooperation in the field of transport policy and transport infrastructure;
• take into account the South East Europe Core Regional Transport Network as a future part of TEN-T in the process of TEN-T Policy Revision in order to support the further integration of the Western Balkans into the EU;
• improve border management and increase the capacity of border crossings in order to speed up and improve the quality of transport at regional level;
• initiate a study on employment in the Western Balkan Contracting Parties of the Transport Community;
• give due attention to the development of training programmes for both employers and employees in order to enable them to better respond to changes in the labour market;
• improve transparency in public procurement in the Western Balkans.