ABSTRACT
European economic development indeed occurs within a field of competitive regions, geographical accessibility and growth bottlenecks. The European integration has meant a radical attack on numerous man-made borders, but bottlenecks of all kinds remain. To date, many political borders have disappeared or transformed as the result of the unification of Western Europe and the opening of Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, Eastern Europe is
undergoing a painful process of economic change, resulting in seriously high levels of unemployment. Whether vanishing political borders will lead to more openness and economic benefits for both Western and Eastern Europe remains to be seen. Mankind seems keen into invent new bottlenecks that preclude unfettered mobility of people, goods and information. In addition, the history of political borders with their cultural and institutional differences may last long and prevent transborder cooperation and integration. An important question now is to which extent cross-border flows are affected by accessibility.
