Infrastructure investment opportunities in the New EU Member States: the role of regional policies

Infrastructure development is a priority on policy agendas in the EU and worldwide, because of the very high investment needs in basic infrastructure, especially in lagging behind regions and countries. The paper provides a descriptive analysis of the infrastructural gaps in EU transition economies at national and, as far as possible, regional level for some infrastructure sectors: transport, telecommunication, environment and energy. The analysis suggests that, on average, internal divergences in the infrastructures’ endowment are present between the urbanised capital cities regions and the peripheral and rural areas, in all the Member States; yet, the density and quality of such endowment is significantly higher in the Western countries and limited in the Eastern ones.