Diversity

Imbalances in Europe are many and diverse including infrastructure provision, accessibility and development potential. At European level, the most significant concentration is found in the “Pentagon” – the economic core of the EU – as opposed to various peripheral areas. This lack of balance not only puts certain regions at a disadvantage in respect to others. Even more importantly, development potential is in danger of not being realised. From past experience, EU enlargement contributes to the widening of some existing imbalances, but also to the diversity of development potential.

Balanced and polycentric development

In recent years there has been a shift from East to West in the balance of population in Europe. This constitutes a challenge to achieving a more balanced and polycentric distribution of growth in Europe. However, in terms of wealth the situation is reversed. The dominance of the Pentagon is still evident, but with some signs of decrease.

This constitutes an opportunity for achieving a more balanced distribution of economic forces in an enlarged EU. The area identified as the “Eastern European Triangle”, in particular the cities of Prague and Budapest, has the potential to challenge the current dominance of the Pentagon. This would create a second European region with global significance. As well, other groupings of larger urban centres have the potential to act as counterweights to the Pentagon, if appropriate policies are applied.

Accessibility

Europe-wide accessibility shows a clear centre/periphery pattern, as far as road and rail are concerned. Regions with the highest degree of accessibility are located within the Pentagon. Accessibility by air shows a somewhat different pattern, with a number of regions of the European periphery having high accessibility levels, provided they have a major airport. Telecommunication systems are subject to rapid change. The combination of the liberalisation of markets and the deployment of new technologies has created a highly dynamic context for the development of telecommunications in Europe. Fixed line networks remains important. The digitalisation of telephone exchanges and transmission has been completed in most EU countries. The availability of mobile telephones is progressing rapidly, with a number of peripheral countries having the highest rates. Although most countries in the eastern part of

Europe still have low rates of uptake, they have the highest growth rates. As far as Internet use is concerned, there are significant differences between the centre and the periphery, although large cities in the periphery reach reasonable levels. Rural areas are generally lagging behind. Broadband provision shows both a north/south and an east/west divide. Some areas are unlikely to obtain access to broadband technologies if development is left solely to the market.