In an audit published on Tuesday 21 April, the Court of Auditors gives its conclusions on the progress made towards the completion of the core road network of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). This so-called ‘core’ network brings together the most strategic sections of the entire TEN-T (see EUROPE 12397/9) and should be operational by 2030.
Between 2007 and 2017, almost 3,100 km of motorway were built with EU support, “which helped to make travel faster, safer and better”, the Court acknowledges.
However, at the time of this audit, at the end of 2019, fewer than 400 km of new motorway – out of the 2,000 km planned between 2014 and 2020 – had been completed.
In the four Member States visited by the auditors, completion rates were precisely 100% in Spain, around 78% and 75% respectively in the Czech Republic and Poland and 46% in Bulgaria, with most of the Central and Eastern European Member States still lagging behind.
Poorly invested funds. Since 2007, the Commission has provided around €40 billion for the construction of new TEN-T roads and the upgrading of existing roads. Most of the funding is allocated under the ESI Funds (European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund).
In order to ensure that the Member States give priority to the network, the Commission has required in particular that the granting of these subsidies be subject to certain conditions. However, without much success, since only one third of the funding available under the ESI Funds has been allocated to this network between 2014 and 2020.
The auditors therefore recommend, inter alia, that the Commission should ensure that States requesting TEN-T funds are able to present an appropriate timetable and the budgetary appropriations available to them.
Poorly maintained and incomplete sections. The auditors also deplore the lack of maintenance by Member States of the central road network.
According to the OECD, average state spending on road maintenance has, in fact, fallen by almost half between 2007 and 2017.
The auditors also explained that they found that some border sections were incomplete and that “there was an insufficiently coordinated approach to secure parking areas and alternative clean fuel infrastructure”. Two elements which, in their view, compromise the fluidity of travel on the central road network.
Insufficient follow-up. In addition, the audit calls into question the Commission’s inadequate monitoring of the situation.
The auditors therefore also recommend that the institution should have adequate instruments to monitor the evolution of the TEN-T core network, such as intermediate values to assess progress and reliable forecasts on the likelihood of the completion of the core network by, for example, 2030.
To consult the audit: https://bit.ly/34YadE5 (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)