Brussels, 22/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - In addition to the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector (at least 60% compared to the 1990 level by 2050 and 20% compared to the 2008 level by 2030), the new White Paper on transport policy that the European Commission is to publish on Monday 28 March should trigger a debate on a more effective strategy for funding transport infrastructure. The goal is to: - strengthen the infrastructure planning framework so that it involves more member states; - adopt more effective implementation instruments; - and set in place an investment strategy that would be more attractive for the private sector and coordinate European and national public funding around the most strategic projects and those providing the greatest European added value.
The debate on amounts as well as on the breakdown of financial allocations for transport will depend on the final structure of the future EU multiannual budget for the years 2014-2020 (the Commission is expected to adopt its communication at the end of June). It is nonetheless an established fact that, given the constant public spending cuts and the gradual phasing out of oil as the main fuel, it will become necessary to diversify public funding sources for infrastructure. Some €200-250 billion will be needed for the years 2014-2020 in order to ensure funding for the most strategic infrastructure as part of the trans-European transport network (RTE-T). About €50 billion is available under the current financial perspectives (€8 billion of the RTE-T budget and €40-43 billion from cohesion funds). As the Commission sees it, the future architecture for transport funding should be focused around multi-modal corridor networks (strategic projects which, by combining different modes of transport, would allow the main hubs of activity to be linked), which would attract the attention of the EU and of the member states both in terms of funding and in terms of operational improvements.
The Commission's main idea would be to organise infrastructure projects in a way that facilitates access to financial markets. Loans or bonds partly guaranteed by Community funding (such as project bonds) would in this case be the preferred instruments for making funding available rather than a transport fund to directly fuel infrastructure investment, as had been contemplated earlier. The corridors in question would thus be “condemned” to achieving results, in so far as loans or bonds must generate interest. The private sector should also be involved in financing. At the same time, additional revenue needed by public budgets could be found through the internalisation of external transport costs (the Commission considers that, gradually, this system could be extended to all modes of transport, especially private cars - see EUROPE 10314), which would be a valid alternative to the proceeds raised from fuel taxation. (A.By./transl.jl)