Brussels, 19/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The parliamentary committee for regional development (REGI) is still not totally convinced by the modus operandi of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Although MEPs acknowledge how the facility could help fund trans-European networks in transport energy and communications, many of them spoke against the proposal to divert €10 billion from cohesion funds to finance cross-border transport infrastructure.
In his address to the MEPs from the REGI committee, the European Commissioner for transport, Siim Kallas, sought to provide assurances on Monday, 17 September, saying that firstly, the €10 billion is exclusively reserved for cohesion countries, and co-funding rates for eligible projects will be higher than for cohesion funds. He rejected allegations that there were risks of losing money or too much red tape and concluded that the philosophical question behind this is whether it would remove or add €10 billion. He said that for him, it would add it. He supports this instrument because it allows for East-West connection, which he says would not be possible otherwise. The rapporteur for this dossier at REGI, Markus Pieper (EPP, Germany), called on him, nevertheless, to take seriously the fears of colleagues that certain countries would be able to benefit more than others. He confirmed that a compromise on the subject is on track, but said that it has not yet been sufficiently discussed at the transport committee (TRAN). MEPs on this committee are quite clearly less guarded about the CEF and during a joint meeting with the industry committee (ITRE), the rapporteur, Dominique Riquet (EPP, France), expressed enthusiasm on Tuesday 18 September that the CEF was the, “best direct instrument for growth, job creation and European integration”. The first committee votes on the CEF at TRAN and ITRE are planned for 27 November. They are expected to take into account opinions of MEPs at the REGI committee. (MD/trans/fl)