Brussels, 29/06/2015 (Agence Europe): On Monday 29 July, the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, announced that the Commission is earmarking €13.1 billion for 276 transport projects, selected under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
The Slovenian Commissioner stated: “Today, I am very pleased to propose the largest investment plan ever made by the EU in the transport area”.
According to the Commission, this investment will receive EU co-funding of between 20% to 80% according to the project and will unlock additional public and private co-financing for a combined amount of €28.8 billion. In September 2014, the European Commission launched a call for proposals as part of the CEF, which closed in March 2015. During this period more than 700 proposals for almost €36 billion in funding were submitted, “three times more than the available envelope”.
276 projects were subsequently selected on a variety of different criteria, particularly, “projects with the highest European added value” for European companies and citizens primarily located in the core trans-European transport network, such as the trans-Baltic Rail Baltica corridor project (see EUROPE 11340). Digital Single Market and Energy Union dimensions were also taken into account. Other flagship initiatives include the Brenner Base Tunnel between Austria and Italy, the Seine-Escaut waterway between France and the Benelux, the Caland Bridge with the Netherlands and the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark.
Smaller-scale initiatives include cross-border projects between Groningen and Bremen in Germany, the Iron Rhine rail line and the “LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) deployment plans or projects enhancing the navigability of the Danube River” (see EUROPE 11333).
The Commissioner explained that the decisions taken in several different stages were difficult to make and that the project promoters were not all going to be pleased. She added, however, that the Commission would launch a new call for proposals in October 2015, which will receive an envelope of €7 billion. The Commissioner added “I hope that the member states will seize this opportunity and will put forward finalised projects”.
The Commission will present its proposal to the European Parliament on 6 July next. The CEF committee will meet on 10 July 2015 after having received the opinions from member states for the official adoption of the funding decision announced. The individual grant agreements will then be prepared by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) and signed with the project beneficiaries in the second half of 2015.
According to Commission estimates, implementation of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) could help create up to 10 million jobs and increase European GDP by 1.8% by 2030. (Pascal Hansens)