Brussels, 09/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Heading in the right direction but still a long way to go, is the view of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in its opinion on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) delivered at the end of February. The CEF is a Commission initiative which has been allocated €50 billion to fund the investment needed to fill the missing links in European transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructure. The EU will not be able to finance this level of investment on its own and should look to leveraging public and private financing by giving infrastructure projects greater credibility and by lowering risk, says the EESC in the overarching opinion on the CEF by Raymond Hencks (Workers' Group, Luxembourg), which backs EU bonds for infrastructure projects.
In an opinion on trans-European energy networks, Egbert Biermann (Workers' Group, Germany) advances the idea of creating an energy super-network underpinned by decentralised smart networks, cross-border interconnectors and better storage facilities. The Biermann opinion, however, called for realism on the rapid advent of carbon capture and storage technology, which he fears will not become fully operational by 2020.
Stefan Back (Employers' Group, Sweden), in an opinion on the guidelines for trans-European transport networks, says that multimodal and seamless cross-border networks that include “the last mile” and are linked to third countries will be vital for the success of the strategy and will also be instrumental in reaching the aims set out in the 2011 White Paper on the roadmap to a single European transport area. Back, however, highlighted inconsistencies between strategic long-terms goals of the proposal and more immediate measures needed between 2020 and 2030.
In his opinion on digital networks, Antonio Longo (Various Interests Group, Italy) praised the Commission for earmarking some of the funds available under the Connecting Europe Facility to develop broadband, but asked the Commission to focus on projects that boost cross-border interconnectivity and technical interoperability. Longo's opinion stressed the need to respect the net neutrality principle and favoured including internet connectivity in the universal services obligation. The EESC was perplexed by the power that the Commission granted itself to modify projects selected for funding, as this risked exposing it to unnecessary pressures.
In each of these opinions, the EESC stressed the importance of ensuring access to the network for all operators so that better and possibly cheaper services can be offered. (EH/transl.rt)