Siegfried Mureşan MEP (EPP, Romanian), co-rapporteur for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), proposed devoting a larger share of European funds to cross-border projects to develop the rail sector, at a conference organised by Polish State Railways (PKP) and the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) on Wednesday 19 February (see EUROPE 13578/3). Along with the other participants, he considered that a more substantial share of the budget should be devoted to the development of the rail network (see EUROPE 13495/4).
Mr Mureşan said that the budget represents “a balance between predictability and flexibility”, because there is a need to be able to react in the event of a crisis, while at the same time providing predictability for infrastructure, by making a long-term commitment. “The top priority is security and defence on the one hand, and competition on the other. We will only be attractive to the private sector if we are safe. We will create synergies between these two top priorities, while also contributing to military mobility”, he added.
He stressed that it was also necessary to ensure a balance between traditional priorities, such as agriculture and cohesion policy, and new priorities. “Cohesion policy must evolve, and we need to see what projects we can accommodate next, especially dual-use projects such as civil and military infrastructure”, he explained. He therefore put forward the idea of binding targets for cross-border projects. “We have to convince the Member States and the people that the money spent through the EU is well spent, convince them of this added value”, he said.
For his part, Alan Beroud, CEO of PKP and Vice-Chair of CER, called for the creation of a new financial mechanism dedicated to the effective reduction of emissions, to be used by the rail sector.
Herald Ruijters, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), spoke of the problem of over-subscription to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), particularly as regards military mobility. He also deplored the fact that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) only includes national plans for EU Member States, but no cross-border projects. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)