The Commission's TINA initiative (Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment) was established to support transport infrastructure planning in the new candidate countries. The countries have started coordinating their infrastructure planning in three regional sub-groups (Baltic Sea area, central Europe and south-eastern Europe), with a view to extending the trans-European networks. The TINA secretariat was set up in Vienna in May 1997 to provide technical support for this scheme. Its remit includes not only technical and organizational back-up and cartography, but also the establishment of expert networks, technical and socio-economic analyses, statistical collection and practical support for working meetings.
