On Thursday 24 September, the MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport (TRAN) discussed the funding allocated by the European Commission under the ‘Transport’ window of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
According to figures put forward by Herald Ruijters, representing the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility (DG MOVE), a total of €23.1 billion of the €24.05 billion available for the period 2014-2020 has already been allocated.
70% of the funds paid out were for the railways: 395 railway projects have been financed in the amount of €16.3 million, compared with 74 projects with a total value of, for example, €1.5 million in the air sector.
Welcoming the choice to focus on a particularly environmentally friendly sector, however, Johan Danielsson (S&D, Sweden) called for the greening of other modes of transport.
“I think it’s important to continue to encourage all modes of transport to use alternative fuels”, he said, noting that this requires more investment in other sectors, notably in air transport.
85% climate-friendly investments
Under the call for projects launched for the year 2019, 130 projects have been selected with a budget of approximately €2.1 billion: 94 projects will benefit from the general envelope (967 million) and 36 projects from the cohesion project envelope (1.15 billion).
As part of the Green Deal, the 2019 call “focuses even more on the climate aspect than in the past”, said Mr Ruijters, adding that 85% of the projects selected should help to achieve the environmental goals set by the Commission.
“And what about the remaining 15%?”, asked Ciarán Cuffe (Greens/EFA, Ireland). “We are not at 100% yet, because investments are also being made, for example, in data collection, interoperability, intelligent transport systems”, Ruijters defended.
In addition, an update was provided on project financing under the Blending Facility, which aims to promote the participation of private sector investors and financial institutions. This mechanism takes the form of an ongoing call for projects with quarterly deadlines until March 2021.
It supports two areas in particular: the implementation of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) - for which Herald Ruijters has assured that the deployment plan runs until 2023 - and the development of alternative fuels.
Concerning this second category, 13 projects have been selected so far, for a value of approximately €100 million. In particular, they should make it possible to set up 11,000 electrical recharging points.
Reacting to MEPs’ remarks on this subject, the Commission representative acknowledged that “much more is needed” and added “we are trying to see what needs to be done for the next Multiannual Financial Framework”. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)