EEC out of bounds
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FOR THE FIRST TIME the EEC Commission has decided to recommend spending money on building a new motorway which lies outside the community, reports our Brussels correspondent.
The road is the proposed Innviertel-Pyhrrn motorway running across Austria and providing a vital link between the EEC and Greece and Yugoslavia.
AUstria had asked the EEC for help to finance this 185mile link because of the highdensity goods traffic on the existing roads (CM, January 26).
It is estimated that about 14m tonnes of transit traffic crossed Austria in 1977, compared to only 8.4m tonnes for Germany and less than 8tn tonnes for France. This will rise considerably when Greece joins the EEC and trading links are strengthened.
The EEC has also announced a new trade deal with Yugoslavia which will also lead to an increase in the volume of transport which will cross Austria.
The amount of cash provided by Brussels may cover about 20-25 per cent of the motorway's cost.