Trans-border movements in Northern Greece: seeking for spatial interactions

In European spatial development policy, the so-called “culture of mobility” is one of the basic discourses clearly framed by the European Spatial Development Perspective with its main target being ‘transcending spatial distances across Europe’. In the European periphery, such as the border zone between Greece and its neighbouring countries, problems of uneven development, differences in the institutional context and transitional processes make the study of spatial processes in the border regions a matter of special importance. In the Northern Greek border zone, the drastic improvement of road transport infrastructure, with the completion of the EU co-funded Egnatia motorway along with its vertical axes, has not only raised the traditional remoteness and bad accessibility of this zone; it has also affected drastically trans-border connectivity, as it shortened considerably the time distances between border regions. The improved road infrastructure is expected to have significant effects on spatial interactions between trans-border regions in South-East Europe. This paper analyses the results of an origin-destination study which was held in the 10 cross-border stations of Northern Greece. These cross-border stations connect Greece to Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria and Turkey. The main issues examined are related to questions such as the main characteristics and the gravity of the total movements, as well as the resulted origin-destination spatial structure, with reference to the scope, the frequency and the distance of movements. The main findings of the research show that although these movements are still a fraction of internal trans-regional flows, they are quite important mainly as regards the frequency and the scope of journeys. Other important findings relate to the large differences of cross-border movements between Greece and its neighbouring countries, with the northern ones (FYROM and Bulgaria) having the greatest share, the ones from and towards Albania concerning mostly migrant flows, and those to and from Turkey remaining rather low. A large share of cross-border movements concern trans-border regions and cities, mostly taking place within short distances of up to 50 km. The paper argues that research should go further to investigate the possible links between these regions and specific cities, whereas there is an emerging need for trans-border spatial planning which will encompass transport infrastructure planning. Trans-border movements in Northern Greece: seeking for spatial interactions – EGNATIA MOTORWAY OBSERVATORY; EGNATIA ODOS S.A.,2010 Paper presented at ΤHE MULTIFACETED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHIES OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EU BORDERS: THE 2010 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR BORDERLANDS STUDIES, 19-10.02.2010, Veria, GR 2 INTRODUCTION In European spatial development policy, the so-called “culture of mobility” (Richardson and Jensen 2000) is one of the basic discourses clearly framed by the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP, 1999) with its main target being transcending spatial distances across Europe. Factor mobility plays a vital role in the spatial integration process of the European Union. One of the most important prerequisites of this integration is the transportation networks which lead to the accessibility of places and markets, the physical communication between cultures, the flows of goods and the mobility of people. Potentially, it permits people and businesses to move according to their best suitable conditions, and ensures that the resulted economic performance transcends regional and national constraints. For border regions, borders continue to constitute barriers and opportunities interchangeably. In particular in the European periphery, such as the border zone between Greece and its neighbouring countries, problems of uneven development, differences in the institutional context and transitional processes make the study of spatial processes in the border regions a matter of special importance. In the last decade, a drastic improvement of road transport infrastructure took place in the Northern Greek –in essence, an actual borderzonebecause of the construction of the Egnatia Motorway, which started in 1996. Crucial sections of the motorway were gradually being delivered to traffic from 2004 (by the completion of the Kastania bypass between the cities of Veria and Kozani) to 2009, when, finally, in June, the 670 km motorway was put into full operation. The Egnatia Motorway is, actually, one of the largest transport projects constructed lately in Europe, and it was included among the top priority projects of the Trans European Transport Networks (TENsT). Through 9 vertical axes, the Egnatia Motorway operates as a collector axis of the Trans-European Network (No7) and the Pan European Transport Corridors that cross SE Europe from North to South. These vertical axes connect the Egnatia Motorway with the Greek-Albanian borders (towards Tirana), Western Bulgaria (towards Sofia), Eastern Bulgaria (Bourgas) and FYROM (towards Skopje). The Egnatia Motorway serves also the connection and road movements between Europe, Greece and Turkey towards the countries of Eastern Europe and Middle East. The drastic improvement of the road infrastructure raised the traditional remoteness and bad accessibility of the Northern Greek zone, long being one of the major problems of the spatial structure in Greece. The Region of Epirus, for example, due to its geomorphology was one of the most typical cases of remote areas in Europe. The time distance between Thessaloniki-Ioannina is reduced from five to two and a half hours (Observatory-Egnatia Odos S.A. 2009). The road infrastructure improvement also affected drastically the trans-border connectivity, even if improvement interventions did not take place in other parts of the border zone, as it shortened considerably the time distances between the border countries and regions. Recent literature on cross-border mobility and spatial interaction stresses the need for actual data and figures that would indicate accurate facts and raise specific arguments: “improved territorial knowledge is required to better understand cross-border territories and to design appropriate and adapted policies. There is an expressed need for indicators relating to accessibility, mobility, equipments and services, demography [and so on...]” (EC 2009, 13). In this context, the present paper analyses the results of an origin-destination study which was held in the 10 cross-border stations of Northern Greece. The investigation took place upon the completion of the Egnatia Motorway (spring-summer 2009), when large parts of its vertical axes were also open to traffic. Therefore, the investigation provides an overview of the impacts of road infrastructure improvement in an initial stage. The main issues examined are the basic characteristics and the gravity of the total movements and the resulted origin-destination spatial structure, with reference to the scope, the frequency and the distance of movements. Trans-border movements in Northern Greece: seeking for spatial interactions – EGNATIA MOTORWAY OBSERVATORY; EGNATIA ODOS S.A.,2010 Paper presented at ΤHE MULTIFACETED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHIES OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EU BORDERS: THE 2010 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR BORDERLANDS STUDIES, 19-10.02.2010, Veria, GR 3 BORDERS, MOBILITY AND SPATIAL PLANNING Poor transport infrastructure constitutes one of the major problems in the border regions and an important barrier for their spatial integration and development. In response to that, the European transport policy contribution to the implementation of the trans-European transport network should be concentrated on the cross-border sections and on bottlenecks (EC 2007, 5). Planning this Community network has essentially meant adding together significant parts of national networks for the different modes and connecting them at national borders (EC 2009a, 5). In that respect, cross-border mobility and interaction could play a vital role in European trans-border planning of transport infrastructure. On the other hand, the latest territorial cohesion agenda of the EU (EC 2008) points out that transport policy has obvious implications for territorial cohesion through its effect on the location of economic activity and the pattern of settlements. It plays a particularly important role in improving connections to and within less developed regions. The territorial agenda of the EU also acknowledges the crucial importance of cross-border mobility and cooperation that underlines the need of synergies in regional development and spatial planning issues. This is quite evident through the long run of the INTERREG programme and the current transnational cooperation programmes that are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the European Territorial Cooperation Objective of Cohesion Policy for the period 2007-13. Besides, the European Spatial Development Perspective has earlier pointed out that “with growing economic and social integration, internal borders are increasingly losing their separating character and more intensive relationships and inter-dependencies are emerging between cities and regions of the Member States. This implies that effects of regional, national or Community projects in one country can have a considerable impact on the spatial structure of other Member States [...] In that respect, spatial planning can help avoid increases in such regional disparities” (ESDP 1999, 7). Even more, cross-border transport is an important theme of cooperation between border regions, as it is assumed to link functional urban areas (FUAs) and potential urban strategic horizons (PUSHs), especially regarding the integration process of enlargement regions that can develop relationships, bonds and ties over national borders (INTERREG 2007, 32). Some recent publications show significant an