2. Transport and political environment

Despite the trend towards deregulation, transport remains a particularly public sector activity. All European governments have a Minister of Transport.

• Ancient roots

  The reasons for this intervention are diverse, profound and long-standing. Some existed long before the advent of capitalism, when they affected the exercise of political power, whether civil or military. Covering the territory with sufficient infrastructure is a constant preoccupation of those in power.

  Even today, the density of the basic road network is highly uniform across Europe, even in areas where its economic role, and therefore its direct social profitability, is very low. In the event of war, means of transport are immediately mobilized, placed under the management of the State and placed at its service. In peacetime,...