THE EFFECTS OF EUROPEAN TRANSPORT POLICY ON PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF SPAIN

摘要

Europe has always had a strong modal imbalance, with road comprising a much greater share of freight transport than the alternative transport modes. Although road is the mode that best meets current transport demand requirements, it has also benefited from market failures. These market failures, including negative externalities, have led the European Union and its Member States to implement the common transport policy, the aim of which is to tackle these externalities and include their cost in the final price of transport. One of the measures undertaken in order to reflect the real costs of freight transport has been road pricing. However, this measure does not affect all Member States equally. This article focuses on the effects of road pricing for peripheral countries. Such countries feel the negative effects more strongly due to their geographical location and the fact that their modal pattern is even more unbalanced than that of Central European countries. Therefore, this paper takes a novel and practical approach by evaluating the impact of road pricing on the euros per ton cost of Spanish shipments to three European destinations. This study seeks to quantify the additional cost incurred on exports of a peripheral country (Spain) as a result of road pricing. This additional cost can logically affect the export capability of a country and its external competitiveness, especially in cases such as Spain, where its competitiveness is largely based on the price of its exports. One way to avoid the effects of road pricing is to use alternative modes, however, these modes are not always well-suited to the demand. That is why an analysis of the current state of the two main alternative modes, rail and sea, has also been carried out to determine their capability to capture traffic diverted from road. The results show a moderate impact on costs but this can, however, affect the country's competitiveness. The paper also highlights the need to work on developing alternative modes, especially rail, given the difficulties they face in competing with road and meeting demand requirements.