Brussels, 05/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 February, the European Commission adopted a new map for extension of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) in Norway, Iceland and towards the Western Balkans.
For this latter group of countries, the update of the map is the result of an agreement between the Western Balkans and the EU which was approved at the Vienna summit on 27 August 2015. At the time, Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn announced €600 million to be invested in road, rail and waterway transport in 2015 alone. The agreement is part of a strategy to improve access to the region, involving Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia (see EUROPE 11377).
“Its successful implementation (i.e. that of the network) will depend, however, on the timely implementation of the core infrastructure projects”, warned Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, encouraging all project promoters to make the best use of the TU's financial instruments and of the new TEN-T advisory hub.
As far as Iceland and Norway are concerned, adjustments have been brought to correspond as closely as possible to the already existing network, still in line with TEN-T criteria. Agreement was reached on the changes within the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Committee which brings together Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The last meeting of this joint committee was on 19 November. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)