Brussels, 12/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Transport Ministers will be tackling the key issue, that of infrastructure funding, at their informal meeting to be held in Milan on 16 and 17 September.
By invitation of the Italian Transport Minister, Maurizio Lupi, his 27 counterparts are to discuss the planning and governance of infrastructure at their first working session, on Tuesday 16 September. The aim will be to ensure that the member states do not invest sparsely in transport infrastructure along the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Improving the governance of this network would, for instance, involve all countries investing at the same time on the same corridors (of which there are nine), in order to ensure the homogeneity of the TEN-T, the central network of which is to be completed in 2030. They must therefore improve their coordination for the investment planning phase above all.
On the following day, Wednesday 17 September, the going will get a bit tougher, as the ministers will be discussing ways of raising money to finance the transport infrastructure of the TEN-T. Although European funds have been earmarked to co-fund certain projects, the European money available is not sufficient and much of the investment will have to be shouldered by the member states. The European ministers will therefore discuss the various options to make this funding available, possibly through private injections, compulsory loans or charges to use the infrastructure.
The call for projects, which was launched on 11 September for European funding in transport infrastructure to a level of €11.9 billion, is highly likely to be a topic for the ministerial debates (see EUROPE 11153).
Four coordinators of the TEN-T corridors will feed into the discussions (Scandinavian-Mediterranean, Mediterranean, Baltic-Adriatic and Atlantic corridors). The Deputy President of the European Investment Bank, Dario Scannapieco, and a lecturer from the Massachuetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will also be sharing their expertise. Conclusions are expected to be adopted following this informal Transport Council. (MD)