Internal and external accessibility of the European Union is a key factor of growth, employment and competitiveness in the European Union. "Connecting" Europe, through improved transport networks is one of the major goals set under the Lisbon strategy (3rd and 4th report on economic and social cohesion, European Commission, 2004). This map first presents, for each region, a synthetic measure of internal accessibility to the European territory (accessibility to population or GDP according to functional time - distance by air, road or rail). But it is completed by a measure of external accessibility with the location of gateway cities that are well connected to the rest of the World either by air or maritime connexions.

 

• Concerning internal accessibility of European territory (rail, air, and road) in 2001, the map highlights the great disparities between the central European regions (Pentagon) and peripheral regions. The territories coloured in orange / red are characterized by an accessibility higher than the average of the European Union (EU27 = 100). The regions represented in green are below the EU average and can be considered as peripheral in term of accessibility.
• Concerning external accessibility, main airports in terms of big distance connexions (passengers/kilometers) are strictly concentrated in the Pentagon (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zürich) with the exception of Madrid, which develop specific links with Latin America. The greatest maritime gateways are organised in two main ranges: a first one from Tallinn to Le Havre and a second from Trieste to Algeciras.