Nine years ago, the European Commission published a White Paper on European Transport Policy. In this document, the European Commission regarded the solution for coping with the problem of steadily rising traffic flows as being the well-balanced use of the various modes of traffic and sustainable ecological innovations. Now, the creation of another White Paper intended to develop a concept for the next decades is at issue in order to guarantee the competitiveness of the European traffic sector. This is a considerable challenge bearing in mind both the traffic-related impacts of measures preventing climate change and the depletion of global oil resources.An overarching and modern European transportation network is a basic prerequisite for the completion of the European internal market and strengthening the territorial cohesion of the European Union. Both the transport sector and a fully functioning and well-developed infrastructure form basic requirements for the effective fulfilment of the Lisbon Strategy aims with regard to growth and employment. They are at the same time a key element in the solution of sustainability problems regarding the European Union