description of the new member states transport system in an era of convergence: development of an indicator system
;Gavanas Nikolaos;Pitsiava Magda
Diabetes care2011Vol. 2011pp. 37-44
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nikolaos2011spatiumdescription
Abstract
The recent enlargement of the European Union (EU) towards East Europe and the
Balkans provides a common policy framework towards the promotion of
socio-economic convergence of the 12 new member-states to the EU emphasizing
the role of the transportation system. A system of indicators is developed in
this paper in order to describe the new member-states’ transportation system
in relation to the area’s socio-economic characteristics by comparing them to
the transportation and socio-economic profile of the 15 pre-enlargement
member-states. The analysis indicates relatively low levels of mobility for
the study area combined with social and economic disparities. It also
highlights a series of prospects that could contribute decisively towards the
achievement of socio-economic convergence. Based on the experience gained by
the development and application of the indicator system, the paper concludes
with a series of propositions in order to enhance its contribution for the
description of the features and the assessment of the impacts from the
development of the new member-states’ transport system.