A Multilevel Governance Model in the Scandinavian-Adriatic Corridor: The Scandria®-Alliance Work Package 6 Final Report Final version as of 5 September 2014 Responsible Project Partner: Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg Editor: INFRASTRUKTUR & UMWELT Prof. Böhm und Partner Potsdam Dr. Jürgen Neumüller Sven Friedrich Contents 1 Multilevel governance in the Scandria®-Corridor – the background .............................................3 1.1 Multilevel governance in transport ......................................................................................3 1.2 Responsibilities at different governance levels.....................................................................3 1.3 Transport policy approaches ................................................................................................5 1.4 Cross-border governance structures in the Scandria®-Corridor ............................................8 1.5 Organisational models ....................................................................................................... 10 1.6 Policy and Governance Summary ....................................................................................... 12 2 The Scandria®-Corridor Initiative ............................................................................................... 13 3 The TransGovernance multi-level governance approach in the Scandria Corridor ...................... 14 4 Thematic scope of multi-level governance in the Scandria®-Corridor ......................................... 16 5 Scandria®-Alliance: Multi-Level Governance Model for the Scandria®-Corridor ......................... 20 5.1 The Corridor Platform Scandria®-Alliance as a tool to coordinate regional, national and European interests and to boost regional development along the Corridor. .................................. 20 5.2 Corridor Node Working Groups addressing interfaces between the core network corridors and regional networks in urban nodes and functional areas, especially across borders. ................ 21 5.3 Thematic initiatives piloting sustainable and efficient transport in the Scandria®-Corridor . 22 5.4 The Rostock-Guldborgsund Cooperation: A local level cross-border initiative in the Scandria®-Corridor ........................................................................................................................ 22 6 Next steps towards a Scandria®-Alliance ................................................................................... 25 Literature .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Annexes ............................................................................................................................................ 27 Annex 1: Multi-level governance background report Annex 2: Multi-level governance framework report Annex 3: Strategic summaries of workshops Page 2 1 Multilevel governance in the Scandria®-Corridor – the background 1.1 Multilevel governance in transport Multi-Level Governance (MLG) was developed as a theoretical approach in political science and public administration theory. It originates from studies on European Integration in the early 1990ies, explaining the shifting of authority from Central States up to Europe. The shifting of authority made the process of decision making more complex, having a wider variety of interests to consider and demanding more detailed expert knowledge both on meta- and micro level. The shifting of authority – both to the European level and towards new influencing stakeholders – was increasingly bearing conflicts: More and more decisions had been taken on meta-level, e.g. between European and national institutions. Some stakeholders – especially those possessing expert knowledge on micro level, e.g. regional and local authorities but also small business stakeholders and non-profit organizations - felt more and more excluded from the decision making. Figure 1 depicts the complex interaction of different levels in the decision making process and the immanent antagonism of decision making potential and detailed micro-knowledge: While stakeholders on local and regional level are strongly motivated to improve conditions at micro level and have good knowledge about possibly needed interventions, Figure 1: Coordination and knowledge vs. strategic planning potential. their coordination potentials are Source: Björn Hasselgren (2013) limited in respect to resources and influence on decision making processes. Multi-level governance aims to improve the collaboration of relevant partners on all levels. It aims to include expert knowledge on all spatial and administrative levels into decision making and therefore incorporating the available spectrum of expert knowledge: - on local, regional, national and European level (vertical dimension) - between regions and municipalities on cross-national scale (horizontal dimension) - including non-governmental stakeholders and experts (interdisciplinary dimension) In practise MLG is often realized as an arena for discussion and cooperation on subnational level, aiming to influence national and European decisions/policy. 1.2 Responsibilities at different governance levels In transport policy there is a complex interaction of private and public stakeholders acting at different policy levels: - The European level, providing the framework for an integrated European transport policy, - The national level, setting national investment priorities and financing major part of transport infrastructure projects, - The regional and local level, taking care for regional and local transport networks as well as the organization of public transport in their territories. Page 3 - private stakeholders in many respects; e.g. as infrastructure managers, operators or investors. Below you’ll find an attempt to wrap up most major repsonsibilities. At the European level main stakeholder is the European Commission that in a joint decision making process with member states (European Council) and European Parliament sets out the main European Policy framework. Main interest of the Commission is to align the different national transport systems into a single European Transport Area. Main instruments are the TEN-T-guidelines as legal background and the Connecting Europe Facility as a financing tool. Within the CEF, ca. 26 billion EUR are available for infrastructure investments within the member states between 2014 and 2020. At European level there is a great variety of interest organisations that are active in areas closely related to transport issues, e.g. in car manufacturing, aviation, rail issues, public transport or clean fuels. Beyond EU transport policy also EU regional policy is influencing transport development, especially in the transnational and cross-border context. European Territorial Cooperation programmes put a strong focus to intermodal and sustainable transport like the priority axis 3 “Sustainable Transport” in the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2014-2020 (BSR 2014). The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has defined the priority area PA Transport – Improving internal and external transport links (EUSBSR 2013). The national level is most decisive with regard to resources for implementing transport policy as well as permissions is decided at national level through national transport policy. The total budget of relevant investment plans foresee a total of roundabout 15 billion EUR that shall be invested year by year into the national transport systems within in the Baltic Sea Region. National level authorities like the German Federal Railway Authority, the Swedish Transport Agency or the Danish Transport Authority are responsible for supervision of and permissions in the railway sector. Most railway undertakings as well as the highway infrastructure is managed by national authorities or nationally centered railway undertakings. Most countries elaborated national strategies on logistics and clean fuels. By their tax policies, national governments influence transport development by e.g. tax reductions or exemptions, road tolls or fuel taxes. Authorities at the regional and local level have much less resources and are mainly responsible for their regional or local transport network and the organization of public transport in their respective area. However, they have to cope with conflicting demands from users of the transport network, e.g. commuters, long distance transport, freight transport. Especially latter needs a sound coordination at the levels above them that takes into account their specific issues. The local and regional level is also involved in logistics system set-up as most public ports and intermodal terminals are owned by regional or municipal entities. One aspect of transport governance is related to spatial planning as major infrastructure investments require extensive planning procedures. Planning procedures involving public participation and Environmental Impact Assessment differ from country to country and may involve different mechanisms and responsible authorities at different levels. Especially for cross-border infrastructure projects this requires well-adjusted procedures taking into account the different legal prerequisites. Transport operators, like railway companies and forwarders are becoming increasingly internationalized, although originating mostly from privatized national railway undertakings. Private stakeholders are increasingly acting as financing entities in PPP-projects