The European Union and Major Infrastructure Policies: The reforms of the TENs programmes and the implications for spatial planning

Abstract

The EU has influenced major transport and energy infrastructure primarily through the TENs programme launched in the 1990s. While earlier spatial planning initiatives such as the ESDP referenced infrastructure in relation to connectivity and mobility, they avoided direct intervention, leaving such matters to national governments. Since 2008, revisions to the TENs programme have expanded the EU’s role, proposing continent-wide investment schemas and streamlined decision-making through the designation of projects of European interest. These initiatives include cross-European multimodal transport corridors and regional energy strategies. The paper analyses these reforms as examples of rescaling governance and reinforcing sectoral decision-making, with significant implications for spatial planning. It argues that outcomes may differ across regions, with long-term macro-regional collaborations (e.g., the Baltic) showing distinct patterns. The study highlights the need for national and regional governments to carefully assess these EU-level proposals and calls for enhanced spatial planning analytical capacity at the EU level to evaluate their broad spatial impacts.