The European Commission has selected 134 transport projects to receive more than €7 billion in EU subsidies under the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF).
Around 83% of the funding will support projects aligned with the EU’s climate objectives, focusing on improving and modernising railways, inland waterways and maritime routes within the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Rail projects will receive 80% of the total amount, in particular cross-border rail connections: Rail Baltica in the Baltic States; the Lyon-Turin link between France and Italy; the Fehmarn Belt tunnel between Denmark and Germany.
Around twenty seaports in several countries will benefit from aid to modernise their infrastructure, in particular to supply power to ships on land and to transport renewable energy.
Several projects will increase the capacity of the ‘solidarity lanes’ between the EU and Ukraine, set up to facilitate imports and exports between the two parties, by covering improvements to road infrastructure at rail border crossings and integrating the Ukrainian railway system (see EUROPE 13445/20). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)