Brussels, 20/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas knows that the €10 billion from the cohesion funds for the Interconnection in Europe Mechanism (IEM) will have to be spent on transport infrastructure projects with European value-added, and he refuses to allow the funding to be hived off to swell the national budgets of cohesion countries.
Kallas called on the European Parliament's transport and tourism committee, on Tuesday 20 December, for help to ensure the Commission's draft IEM legislation does not lose any European value-added. The IEM will have €31.7bn to update transport infrastructure in Europe, along with a further €10bn from the cohesion funds to be used for transport projects. The commissioner said that there was already pressure from member states and the Czech government is acting as a spokesman for countries unhappy with the Commission's proposals. The Commission will be meeting Czech representatives for talks shortly. Kallas said he was not opposed to more flexible measures but would definitely not allow the €10 billion to fill national coffers.
He also asked for the MEPs' support vis-a-vis the Commission's suggested reworking of the European transport network (TEN-T) maps because although the member states were individually consulted - twice - before the maps were reworked, they are starting to apply pressure over the ten priority corridors for a central network to be introduced by 2030. Kallas said he was counting on the European Parliament to defend the European nature of the proposals, although he is open to discussion to take all suggestions into account and obtain the best possible structure. The corridors are not set in stone and can change, therefore, as long as European value-added remains in place. The commissioner admits that he will have to provide further explanation about the coordination of projects from various member states, and public-private partnerships, under the watchful eye of a European Commission coordinator. The Danish Presidency is planning to draw up a general approach by the end of June 2012.
Seizing the opportunity to address MEPs active in the field of transport, Kallas explained that urgent action was needed on the functional air blocs (FABs), following his criticisms earlier in the month of the lack of political will among the member states to meet their promises to plan a Single European Sky. He hopes the MEPs will relay this message to their national governments. (MD/transl.fl)