Strasbourg, 21/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the context of the forthcoming financial programming for 2014-2020 and the entry into force of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), what will the new role and priorities of the Trans-European Network for Transport's Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) consist of when overseeing European infrastructure project cofunding? The Executive Director of the EA, Dirk Beckers, explained to EUROPE how he saw things, following the presentation in Tallinn of the nine transport corridors that will make up the Trans-European Transport Network (RTE-T) (see EUROPE 10945). (Interview by MD)
Agence Europe: The Connecting Europe Facility plans to extend the EA's remit, can you tell us more about this?
Dirk Beckers: This is recognition for us. For ten years, the EA has only been in charge of technical and financial management of transport projects. The European Commission is increasingly outsourcing project management, especially when it comes to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which brings together all the different transport aspects but also those in the energy and telecommunications fields. Our agency's role has therefore been significantly expanded and will also take into account research related issues. The agency will, in effect, develop somewhat the link between the two in an effort to reduce the time spent between these two stages. Thanks to our feedback, the Commission will adapt its policies and respond more quickly to new research developments so that they can be incorporated into the infrastructure.
These new functions will apply as from 1 January because the new programmes begin in 2014 along with the new financial programming period. Given the economic conditions, the Commission has put the emphasis on limited growth and a slower start-up. The agency's structure will change a lot throughout this transition. Our extended remit means that staff numbers will increase from a current staff of 100 to more than 300 by 2020.
The new Trans-European Transport Network orientations plan to take on coordinators for the nine corridors in the network. What are their project management tasks going to be and when will they be appointed?
Their major role is to bring member states together around the table in the context of the cross-border projects. We have noticed that these projects are creating more problems and are often suffering from delays. The coordinators will try to overcome these problems and organise meetings between countries to convince them to make more of a financial and technical effort in an attempt to improve the situation. This is going to be even more important in the corridors because there are often four or five countries involved and these corridors cover several modes of transport, which means, therefore, that the problem is magnified. The coordinators' role will therefore be strengthened. They are mainly going to be political figures. Their appointment in 2014 is therefore in the hands of the Commission, which is seeking out very high level profiles. The role of the agency will be to provide information to the coordinators about the situation in all of the different projects and the possible delays, before they meet with member states. For each corridor coordinator, we will have someone at the EA in a support role to accompany them on missions and provide technical backup.
What are the next major steps in project funding going to be?
The timeframe for the calls for tender is decided by the Commission and we will be in charge of the technical management of these calls. Given that a final call for projects is required this year, with the money remaining from this financial programming (Ed: around €290 million, towards the end of November) we need to prevent calls for offers overlapping. The first project call for tender for the 2014-2020 programming period may therefore possibly be slightly delayed, towards summer, for example.
We are expecting to launch the first call for tenders, which is certainly going to be multiannual and will cover 20-30% of the budget, initially (Ed: out of the €15 billion from CEF for transport, without counting the €11 billion from the Cohesion Fund). Multiannual calls for tender affect priority projects, which are constructed on a greater scale and have a four to six year life cycle requiring longer-term financial guarantees. European projects, such as the Lyon-Turin connection, Seine-Scheldt canal and Brenner tunnel are certainly to be included.
Is the selection process for EU co-financed infrastructure projects likely to be stricter, and what are your priorities going to be?
We have already been very strict at an environmental level with regard to the project selection process. The level of project maturity is also going to be a key element because this has created major problems in the past. In future, we are going to be tougher and the question of project maturity is going to be our first selection criteria. We will choose the best projects that absorb the same budget as previously planned. As we are probably going to launch multiannual calls for tender on a more regular basis, member states will have a greater chance of submitting a project when they are ready and not because it is now or never.