Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T13:11:59.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Europe's System Builders: The Contested Shaping of Transnational Road, Electricity and Rail Networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2007

ERIK VAN DER VLEUTEN ,
IRENE ANASTASIADOU ,
VINCENT LAGENDIJK  and
FRANK SCHIPPER
ERIK VAN DER VLEUTEN
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; e.b.a.v.d.vleuten@tm.tue.nl.
IRENE ANASTASIADOU
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; e.b.a.v.d.vleuten@tm.tue.nl.
VINCENT LAGENDIJK
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; e.b.a.v.d.vleuten@tm.tue.nl.
FRANK SCHIPPER
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; e.b.a.v.d.vleuten@tm.tue.nl.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores what kind of ‘Europe’ was produced in the processes of transnational infrastructure building. It focuses on international organisations dedicated to Europe's infrastructural integration as a promising research site, where infrastructural collaborations (or the lack thereof) were articulated and negotiated. Case studies of the Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), the Union for the Coordination of Production and Transport of Electricity (1951) and the European Conference of Transport Ministers (1953) explore the challenges of transnational system building. They also suggest that Europe's infrastructural interlacing was a contested process, producing, if successful, multilayered networks in which corporate, national and meso-regional borders remain clearly discernable.

Les constructeurs d'infrastructures européennes: la création contestée des réseaux routiers, ferrés et d'électricité transnationaux

Cet article examine quelle ‘Europe’ a été construite au travers de l'implantation d'infrastructures transnationales. Il prend comme terrain de recherche les organisations internationales, qui se sont consacrées à l'intégration des infrastructures européennes, et au sein desquelles étaient négociées des initiatives (ou des insuffisances) de collaborations en termes d'infrastructures. Les cas étudiés, du Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), à l'Union pour la coordination de la production et du transport d'électricité (1951) et à la Conférence européenne des ministres des Transports (1953), permettent d'explorer les enjeux de la construction de systèmes transnationaux. Chacun d'eux a permis d'éclairer la dimension conflictuelle de ce processus; lorsque celui-ci a rencontré le succès, il a produit des réseaux feuilletés, au sein desquels les frontières des corporations, des Etats et des régions sont restées clairement identifiables.

Europas systembauer: die umstrittene fomierung transnationaler straßen-, elektrizitäts- und eisenbahnnetzwerke

Dieser Artikel untersucht, welches ‘Europa’ in den Prozessen transnationaler Infrastrukturprojekte entstand. Er beschäftigt sich besonders mit den internationalen Organisationen und interpretiert sie als Orte, an denen Kooperationen (oder deren Mangel) im Bereich der Infrastruktur artikuliert und verhandelt wurden. Durch Fallstudien zum Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), der Union for the Coordination of Production and Transport of Electricity (1951), und der European Conference of Transport Ministers (1953) werden die Herausforderungen an den Aufbau transnationaler Systeme erörtert. Der Aufbau solcher Verknüpfungen von Europas Infrastrukturen war ein umstrittener Prozeß. Wenn erfolgreich, ging er mit dem Aufbau vielschichtiger Netzwerke einher, innerhalb derer betriebsorganisatorische, nationale und meso-regionale Grenzen deutlich sichtbar blieben.

Type
Research Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , August 2007 , pp. 321 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ernst, Schönholzer, ‘Ein elektrowirtschaftliches Programm für Europa’, Schweizerische Technische Zeitschrift, 23 (5 June 1930)Google Scholar. All translations are by the authors unless otherwise noted.

2 Chevalier, cited in Armand, Mattelart, The Invention of Communication (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996; French orig. 1994), 103Google Scholar.

3 Dirk, van Laak, ‘Der Begriff “Infrastruktur” und was er vor seiner Erfindung besagte’, Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, 41 (1999), 280–99Google Scholar.

4 For a critical history of the infrastructure promises see also Armand, Mattelart, Networking the World 1784–2000 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000; French orig. 1996)Google Scholar; and Rosalind, Williams, ‘Cultural Origins and Environmental Implications of Large Technological Systems’, Science in Context, 6 (1997), 377–403Google Scholar.

5 Quoted from Commission of the European Communities, ‘Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council Amending Decision No. 1692/96/EC’ (Brussels: European Commission, 2001), p. 5. Cf. Treaty on European Union (92/C192/01), Arts. 129(b), (c) and (d).

6 The selection of cases also reflects co-author expertise: Irene Anastasiadou works on European railway history, Vincent Lagendijk on electric power history and Frank Schipper on road history. See www.tie-project.nl.

7 Norman, Davies, Europe: A History (London: Pimlico, 1997), 768Google Scholar; Richard, Griffiths, ed., The Netherlands and the Integration of Europe 1945–1957 (Amsterdam: NEHA, 1990), ixGoogle Scholar.

8 This research is extensive, but hardly visible in European history journals. An exception is Erik van der Vleuten, ‘In Search of the Networked Nation’, European Review of History, 10, 1 (2003), 59–78.

9 For a discussion of potential research sites see Erik, van der Vleuten and Arne, Kaijser, ‘Networking Europe’, History and Technology, 21, 1 (2005), 21–47Google Scholar. The emerging literature on transnational networks includes at least four overlapping currents of scholarship. First, historians of technology started to address European (integration) history; see e.g. Johan, Schot, Thomas, Misa and Ruth, Oldenziel, eds., ‘Tensions of Europe: The Role of Technology in the Making of Europe’, special issue of History and Technology, 21, 1 (2005), 1–139Google Scholar; and Erik, van der Vleuten and Arne, Kaijser, eds. Networking Europe. Transnational Infrastructures and the Shaping of Europe 1850–2000 (Sagamore Beach, MA: Science History Publications, 2006)Google Scholar. Second, economic historians started to address transnational and intermodal transport networks, following up on an isolated attempt of the 1990s. Michèle, Merger, Albert, Carreras, and Andrea, Giuntini, eds., Les réseaux européens transnationaux: XIXe et XXe siècles: Quels enjeux? (Nantes: Ouest Éditions, 1995)Google Scholar; Hans-Ludger, Dienel, ed., Unconnected Transport Networks: European Intermodal Traffic Junctions 1800–2000 (Frankfurt: Campus, 2004)Google Scholar. Third, business and economic historians started to examine transnationalisation of the network industries; see Judith, Clifton, Francisco, Comín and Daniel, Díaz-Fuentes, eds., Transforming Public Enterprise in Europe and North America: Networks, Integration and Transnationalisation (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006)Google Scholar. Finally, integration historians discovered transnational infrastructures as an arena for negotiating political decision-making. Christian Henrich-Franke, ‘Das Post- und Fernmeldewesen im europäischen Integrationsprozess der 1950/60er Jahre’, Journal of European Integration History 10, 2 (2004), 93–114; idem, ‘The Founding of the European Conference for Ministers of Transport – Sectoral Integration in the Early Years of European Integration 1950–1953’, Journal of Transport History, forthcoming; idem, ‘From a Supranational Air Authority to the Founding of the European Civil Aviation Conference’, paper presented at the first TIE international workshop, Rolduc, Netherlands, 2006.

10 E.g. Gijs, Mom, ‘Roads without Rails: European Highway-Network Building and the Desire for Long-range Motorised Mobility’, Technology and Culture, 46, 4 (2005), 745–772Google Scholar; Léonard Laborie, ‘A Missing Link? Telecommunications Networks and European Integration 1945–1970’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 187–215; Pär Blomkvist, ‘Roads for peace! Lobbying for a European Highway System’, ibid., 161–85; Henrich-Franke, ‘Das Post- und Fernmeldewesen’; idem, ‘Founding’.

11 Akira, Iriye, Global Community. The role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 11Google Scholar. For this line of research see also Akira, Iriye, ‘Transnational History’, Contemporary European History, 13 (2004), 211–222Google Scholar; Patricia, Clavin, ed., ‘Transnational Communities in European History 1920–1970’, theme issue, Contemporary European History 14, 4 (2005)Google Scholar; Matthew, Evangelista, Unarmed Forces. The Transnational Movement to End the Cold War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999)Google Scholar; and Thomas, Weiss and Leon, Gordenker, NGOs, the UN, and Global Governance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1996)Google Scholar. Compare older work, such as Evan, Luard, International Agencies: The Emerging Framework of Interdependence (London: Macmillan, 1977)Google Scholar, and White, Lyman C., International Non-governmental Organizations (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1951)Google Scholar.

12 Thomas, Hughes, Networks of Power. Electrification in Western Society 1880–1930 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)Google Scholar; idem, American, Genesis. A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm (New York: Penguin, 1989)Google Scholar; idem, Rescuing Prometheus (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998); idem, Human-Built World. How to Think about Technology and Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).

13 Louis, Galambos, ‘A view from Economic History’, in Todd, la Porte, ed., Social Responses to Large Technical Systems (Dordrecht: Klüwer, 1991), 177–81Google Scholar.

14 For a survey of so-called large technical systems (LTS) research and a conceptual grounding of the Europe's system builders concept herein see Erik van der Vleuten, ‘Understanding Network Societies: Two Decades of LTS Studies’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 279–314.

15 See also Thomas, Hughes, ‘The Seamless Web: Technology, Science, et cetera, et cetera’, in Brian, Elliot, ed., Technology and Social Process (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1988), 9–19Google Scholar. Other concepts further specify how system builders work: they identify those elements lagging behind that restrain total system development (so-called ‘reverse salients’) – and articulate well-chosen ‘critical problems’ to work on.

16 Gunnar, Myrdal, ‘Twenty years of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’, International Organization, 22, 3 (1968), 617–28, at 626Google Scholar.

17 The key reference is Harro van Lente, Promising Technologies: The Dynamics of Expectations in Technological Developments (Delft: Eburon, 1993). Current approaches using this insight include Remco Hoogma et al., Experimenting for Sustainable Transport. The Approach of Strategic Niche Management (London: Spon Press, 2002); Boelie Elzen et al., eds., System Innovation and the Transition to Sustainability: Theory, Evidence and Policy (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004).

18 Mikael, Hård, ‘Beyond Harmony and Consensus: A Social Conflict Approach to Technology’, Science, Technology and Human Values, 18 (1993), 408–31Google Scholar; Jane, Summerton, ‘Stora tekniska system. En introduktion til forskningsfältet’, in Pär, Blomkvisk and Arne, Kaijser, eds., Den konstruerade världen (Stockholm: Brutus Östlings, 1998), 19–43Google Scholar. For system building as a multi-actor game see e.g. Erik, van der Vleuten, ‘Constructing Centralised Electricity Supply in Denmark and the Netherlands: An Actor Group Perspective’, Centaurus, 41, 1–2 (1999), 3–36Google Scholar, and Arne, Kaijser, ‘System Building from Below’, Technology and Culture, 43 (2002), 521–48Google Scholar.

19 Denis, Guérin, Albert Thomas au BIT 1920–1932: De l'Internationalisme à l'Europe (Genève: Institut Européen de l'Université de Genève, 1996), 91Google Scholar; Martin, Fine, ‘Albert Thomas: A Reformer's Vision of Modernization, 1914–32’, Journal of Contemporary History, 12 (1977), 545–64Google Scholar.

20 For instance, the director of HAFRABA, the German association planning a Hamburg–Basel motorway, contacted Thomas immediately. Hof to Thomas, 8 May 1931, Cabinet Albert Thomas, International Labour Organisation Archive, Geneva (hereafter CAT), 11A.1.1.

21 Mom, ‘Roads without Rails’, 755–6. By 1932 the network counted some 300 km of motorways, see Ingrid Strohkark, ‘Die Wahrnehmung von “Landschaft” und der Bau von Autobahnen in Deutschland, Frankreich und Italien’, Ph.D. dissertation, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin 2001, 85.

22 Bundesministerium fur Verkehr, HAFRABA – Bundesautobahn Hansestädte–Frankfurt–Basel: Rückblick auf 30 Jahre Autobahnbau (Wiesbaden: Bauverlag, 1962), 5; Lando Bortolotti, ‘I Congressi Autostradali Internazionali del 1931 e 1932 e le Prime Proposte di un Sistema Autostradale Europeo’, Storia Urbana, 75 (1996), 5–26.

23 Ingrid Heckmann-Strohkark, ‘Der Traum von einer Europäischen Gemeinschaft: Die Internationalen Autobahnkongresse 1931 und 1932’, in Martin Heller and Andreas Volk, eds., Die Schweizer Autobahn (Zürich: Museum für Gestaltung, 1999), 32–45.

24 Thomas cited in Guérin, Thomas, 90. See also Thomas to unknown, n.d., CAT 6A.6; Thomas to Chavenon, n.d., CAT 6B.7.4.2; speech Nyfeller, Premier Congrès International des Autoroutes, 2, CAT 11A.1.1.

25 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, IIme Congrès international des Autoroutes, CAT 6B.7.2.1.

26 Ibid.

27 Francis Delaisi, Les Deux Europes (Paris: Payot, 1929); ‘Rapport Présenté par M. Francis Delaisi sur le Développement des Routes et du Crédit sur Recoltes dans l'Est Européen’, October 1931, CAT 11C.7.3; ‘Rapport de M. Francis Delaisi sur le Financement d'un Programme de Grands Travaux Publics Européens’, July 1932, CAT 6B.7.1.1.

28 E.g. in his letter to Albanian government, Thomas to Beratti, 18 Dec. 1931, CAT 6B.7.4.2.

29 Procès-verbal du Ier Congrès International des Autoroutes, 1, D 600.1000.294.2, ILO Library; Lucien Lainé, ‘L'Autoroute du Nord’, Science et Industrie, CAT 11A.1.1.

30 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, 12, CAT 6B.7.2.1. On technocracy and infrastructures in Interwar Europe see Alexander Gall, ‘Atlantropa: Technological Visions of a United Europe’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, eds., Networking Europe, 99–127.

31 Jacques, Thomas, ‘Le Ier Congrès International des Autoroutes’, Revue Générale des Routes et de la Circulation Routière, 69 (1931), 303–15Google Scholar.

32 Procès-verbal des Travaux du IIme Congrès International des Autoroutes, D600.1000.294.2, ILO Archive, 15.

33 Letter 7 Apr. 1932, CAT 11D.1; [Nyffeler] to Puricelli, 31 Mar. 1932, CAT 6B.7.2.2; Bortolotti, ‘Congressi’, note 47.

34 Kurt, Kaftan, Der Kampf um die Autobahnen: Geschichte und Entwicklung des Autobahngedankens in Deutschland von 1907–1935 unter Berücksihtigung ähnlicher Pläne und Bestrebungen im übrigen Europa (Berlin: Wigankow, 1955), 188, fig. 65Google Scholar.

35 Kaftan, Kurt, Europa Braucht Autobahnen! Vorschläge und Entwürfe zur Erbauung Nationaler Autobahnnetze als Ausganspunkte zur Errichtung eines Europäischen Autobahnnetzes (Berlin: Reichssportverlag, 1936), 14–15Google Scholar.

36 Marcel Nyffeler, Règles Générales Programme Albert Thomas, n.d., 15–18. The Soviet Union was not included in the proposals either.

37 OIAR, Statutes, Art. 4, D.600.1000.294.2. There were originally three committees: Commission technique, Commission financière et juridique and a Commission du travail et des loisirs. This last was particularly marginal in the conference proceedings.

38 Evans to Clerc, n.d., CAT 11A.3.5.

39 Heckmann-Strohkark, ‘Autobahnkongresse’, 38.

40 Nyffeler, Règles Générales Programme Albert Thomas, 34 (columns 1, 2); Piero Puricelli, ‘La Rete Autostradale Europea’, Le Strade 14, 12 (1934), 732–3, at 733 (column 3).

41 J.L. to Fuss, 5 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1.

42 Annex 12, Procès-Verbal of the 2nd session, Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit, C.212.M.116.1922.VIII,45, League of Nations Archives, Geneva (hereafter LoN Archives).

43 Final Act, C.234.M.102.1931.VIII, 10 April 1931, 8. For further details see Records and Texts of the European Conference on Road Traffic, C.438.M.185.1931.VIII, LoN Archives.

44 Bortolotti, ‘Congressi’, 24. Mom holds that the proposals would have failed anyway: ‘Roads’, 762.

45 Thomas to Chavenon, n.d., CAT 6B.7.4.2.

46 Guérin, Thomas, 91, 95.

47 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, IIme Congrès international des Autoroutes, CAT 6B.7.2.1, 4.

48 J.L. to Fuss, 5 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1. In addition, some countries were unco-operative. The Soviet Union was provoked by the suggestion to use infrastructural projects as unemployment relief. Its response was brief and clear: there is no unemployment in the Soviet Union. See ‘Huge Building Program Abroad: National Public Works Projects Planned in Europe Will Cost $600,000,000’, Wall Street Journal, 29 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1.

49 ‘Questions internationals de travaux publics’, C.377.M.186.1933.VIII, 13 June 1933; ‘La Conférence de Londres et les Grands Travaux Internationaux’, Temps, August 1933, CAT 6B.7.2.1.

50 Helmut Maier, ‘Systems Connected: IG Auschwitz, Kaprun, and the Building of European Power Grids up to 1945’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, eds. Networking Europe, 129–58.

51 Vincent Lagendijk, ‘High Voltages, Lower Tensions. The Interconnections of Eastern and Western European Electricity Networks in the 1970s and 1980s’, in Éric Bussière, Michel Dumoulin and Sylvian Schirmann, eds., Milieux économiques et intégration européenne au XXe siècle. La crise des années 1970 de la conference de La Haye à la veille de la relance des années 1980. Euroclio vol. 35 (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2006), 137–65.

52 UCPTE 1951–1976: 25 années UCPTE (Arnhem: UCPTE, 1976), 150 and 161.

53 Rapport annuel 1976–1977 (Arnhem: UCPTE, 1977), 103.

54 UCPTE, Compte Rendu de Comité restreint, 16–17 Oct. 1990, Interlaken, 8. UCPTE archive, Brussels.

55 Quotes from www.ucte.org (last visited 17 Aug. 2004). See also ‘UCTE Welcomes Tomorrow's Enlargement of EU’, UCTE Press release, Brussels, 30 April 2004.

56 UNIPEDE, Compte-rendu du Xe Congrès International, London 1955 (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1955), 126–7.

57 Facconi, P., preface to UCPTE 1951–1971. 20 ans d'activité (Rome: UCPTE, 1971)Google Scholar.

58 Herman, Sörgel, Atlantropa (Munich: Piloty & Loehle, 1932), 118–19Google Scholar. Also quoted in Gall, ‘Atlantropa’. The individual study that probably made most impact was Oskar Oliven, ‘Europas Großkraftlinien. Vorschlag eines europäischen Höchstspannungsnetzes’, Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure, 74 (25 June 1930), 875–9.

59 Transit: Electric question, Box R2572, section 9e, dossier 26461, document 29306: Note. Divers aspects de la question du transport et du transit de l'énergie électrique et notamment du problème de la création d'un réseau européen. LoN archives.

60 Maier, ‘Systems Connected’.

61 OEEC, Interconnected Power Systems in the USA and Western Europe: The Report of the Tecaid Mission, the Report of the Electricity Committee (Paris: OEEC, 1950), 9.

62 Ibid., 24 (emphasis added).

63 UCPTE 1951–1976, Annex XIV, Art. 2.

64 EL 1950, file OECD. EL (50)11, Electricity Committee, Memorandum by the special study group on the 1,035 MW Thermal Programme, Paris, 28 Feb. 1950. OEEC archives, Florence.

65 UCPTE 1951–1976, 159.

66 Ibid., 165–87.

67 UCPTE, Rapport annuel 1951–1952 (Paris: UCPTE, 1952).

68 UCPTE, UCPTE 1951–1971, 24.

69 CDO, 40 Years of Activity of the Central Dispatching Organisation of the Interconnected Power Systems, 1962–2002 (Prague: CDO, 2002), 2.

70 Rudolf Botzian, ‘Gesamteuropa: Starkstromnetze und politische Vernetzung’, in Stiftung Wissenschaft und Poltik Studienpapier, SWP – KA 3079 (1998), 7; Per Högselius, ‘Connecting East and West? Electricity Systems in the Baltic Region’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 245–75.

71 Olesen, Thorsten B., ‘Choosing or Refuting Europe? The Nordic Countries and European Integration, 1945–2000’, Scandinavian Journal of History 25 (2000), 147CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ole Waever, ‘Nordic Nostalgia: Northern Europe after the Cold War’, International Affairs, 68, 1 (1992), 78–9.

72 Arne, Kaijser, ‘Trans-border Integration of Electricity and Gas in the Nordic Countries, 1915–1992’, Polhem 15 (1997), 4–43Google Scholar.

73 Vincent Lagendijk, ‘High Voltages, Low Tensions. The Interconnections of Eastern and Western European Electricity Grids during the Cold War’, paper presented at the SHOT Annual Conference 2005, Minneapolis, 3–6 Nov. 2005.

74 UCPTE, Rapport Annuel 1986–1987 (Paris: UCPTE, 1987), 95.

75 Commission of the European Communities, European energy infrastructures. Document COM(2001)775, Brussels, 2001.

76 Geert Verbong, ‘Dutch Power Relations. From German Occupation to the French Connection’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 217–43. Imports relative to net domestic production are calculated from DOE Energy Information Administration, International Energy Annual 2004, tables 6.1 and S.1, available at www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/electricitytrade.html (last visited 7 July 2006).

77 Irene Anastasiadou, ‘Networks of Powers: Railway Visions in Interwar Europe’, Journal of Transport History, in press.

78 Robert, Millward, Public and Private Enterprise in Europe. Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, 1830–1990 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005)Google Scholar.

79 Ralph, Wedgewood and Wheeler, J. E., International Rail Transport (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), 8Google Scholar.

80 National stakes in railways have been emphasised in transport historiography ever since McPherson, Logan G., Transportation in Europe (New York: Henri Holt, 1910)Google Scholar.

81 First Report on the Activities of the Conference (Paris: ECMT, 1955); The European Conference of Transport Ministers. Booklet issued for the Centenary Session (Paris: ECMT, 1969); The European Conference of Ministers of Transport 1953–1993: Past, Present and Future (Paris: ECMT, 1994).

82 For an analysis see Henrich-Franke, ‘The founding’.

83 Protocol Concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Brussels: ECMT, 1953), 5.

84 Ibid., 8, Art. 3.

85 www.cemt.org/cemtmemb.htm (last visited 5 March 2007).

86 Council of Ministers, Record of the Third Session 1955, no CM/M (55) 1, 13, ECMT archives, Paris.

87 Council of Ministers, Record of the Fifth Session, 1956, no CM/M (56) 2, 13, 14 and 15, ECMT archives, Paris.

88 Council of Ministers, Record of the Third Session, 12.

89 ECMT, Resolution No. 93/2 on infrastructure in a pan-European context. CEMT/CM(93)11/FINAL, Paris, 1993 (emphasis added). In 1989 Secretary-General Jan Terlouw immediately positioned transport as ‘a vital instrument of East–West integration in this new Europe’: 36th Annual Report (Paris: ECMT, 1989), 5.

90 ECMT, Annual report 2004 (Paris: ECMT/OECD, 2005), 7.

91 Protocol Concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, 5, Art. 1.

92 First Report of the Activities of the Conference, 17. Cf. The Position of the European Railways, Difficulties, Causes and Possible Remedies (Paris: International Union of Railways, 1951).

93 It expanded the Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli (R.I.V.) of 1922: ‘Europ Wagon Pool’, Railway Gazette, 99 (1953), 94; ‘Pooling Railway Facilities in Europe’, Railway Gazette, 103 (1955), 92; ‘The Europ Wagon Pool’, Railway Gazette 113 (1960), 413.

94 First Report, p. 23; Resolution no. 9 (Paris: ECMT, 1954), 12; Second Report of the Activities of the Conference (ECMT, 1956), 35; ECMT Booklet, 28.

95 The Position of the European Railways, 17–24.

96 Janusz Kalinski, ‘Common Freight Car Pool (OPW) 1964–1990’, in Albert Carreras, Andrea Giuntini and Michèle Merger, eds., European Networks. A Companion Volume. EUI working paper HEC no. 95/1 (Badia Fiesolana: EUI, 1995), 35–7.

97 Henrich-Franke, ‘The Founding’; Second Report, 31.

98 Resolution No. 23 On short-term measures to improve international rail services CM(85)4 (Paris: ECMT, 1985).

99 Anacoreta Correira, 50 Years of ECMT: Transport Policies for a Greater Europe, Council of Europe doc. 9737 (Strasbourg: Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, 2003).

100 http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/era/index_en.htm (last visited 10 April, 2006).