European transport policy and staking a claim on a false start

The European Union has developed through a constant transfer of sovereignty from Member States. This transfer has happened only when Member States have seen greater benefits from decisions taken on a European common level. On one hand European transport policy displays the convenience of a common policy and added European value. Since the end of 19 century it has been clear that it is not feasible to guarantee a free movement of person, goods, capitals and services without developing a common transport policy. Unluckily the construction of the European transport policy was uncertain and marked by a false start: the Treaty of Rome. It avoided solving the conflict of competence between States and the European Community in transport area. A lot of ambitious objectives were fixed by European agreements but at that point we still dealing with government monopolies and still trying to liberalise transport sectors. Before the Treaty of Rome an agreement on the navigabili ty of the Rhine signed in 1868, CECA Treaty in 1951, the called Bonnefous Plan, and then Conference of Messina were focused on transports and its effects on European economy. They already addressed to Trans-European tran sport network, a regulation of transports and the institution of an High Authority of Transport. All these documents underline the role of transports linked with the building of a competitive internal market and free circulation of goods. A concrete integration of Europe aimed to a real solidarity/cooperation pass through transport. That was the Schuman's declaration in 1950. In the meanwhile new more ambitious objectives have been declared by European institutions but there is a lot of work is to do in order to safe the reliability of the European transport policy.