Brussels, 18/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) views the funding proposals for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), set out by the European Commission on 19 October, as a cut in the transport infrastructure budget. CPMR President Jean-Yves Le Drian wrote to European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas on 15 November: “You propose dedicating a budget of around €32 billion to TEN-T infrastructure, by adding the contributions from the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) and Cohesion Funds, for a European territory that should extend by the accession of new member states before 2020. This would be a reduction in the budget as, for the current programming period, the accumulation of the contributions from the TEN-T budget item and the Cohesion Fund interventions on this network should come in at around €43 billion”.
Missing connections. Le Drian set out for the commissioner the concerns of the CPMR's network of 151 regions with regard to European transport policy in a letter sent on Tuesday 15 November. The CPMR would also like to know how allocation of CEF funding of the 10 corridors identified in the revision of the TEN-T will be prioritised. The CPMR president also points out that, in the view of his organisation, some connections are missing: “'Connecting Europe' to us does not only signify connecting territories to major economic and demographic poles, but also connecting the peripheral territories to each other and connecting the regional seas to each other ('Connecting the Seas')”. The CPMR intends to bring forward proposals on this point, and also on the Motorways of the Sea. The future of this project would be put in doubt if the Marco Polo programme is discontinued, Le Drain warned.
The CPMR is also critical of the rail lines planned in the TEN-T review which would see passenger transport and freight transport share the same stretches of line. This is an approach which would not help the maritime sector: “By taking into account the specificity of each mode of transport (passenger/freight), the CPMR considers that this proposal does not respond to the capacity needs for freight transport, especially in order to enable an optimal connection with European ports”, says Le Drian, who is also the leader of the Brittany Regional Council in France.
Rail. The peripheral maritime regions have asked for clarification from the commissioner on these points, and also intend to draft more detailed amendments in the coming months. More generally, The CPMR stresses to commissioner Kallas that European transport policy must respect the principle of territorial cohesion and move towards sustainable transport by developing short and medium distance maritime transport. (MD/transl.rt)