The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has recommended increased funding for the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF), in its Opinion adopted on Thursday 22 January and published on Friday 30 January.
In its Opinion, the funding for ‘CEF’ III should be increased to at least €100 billion. “In addition, CEF funding should be linked to the fulfilment of European value creation criteria, as well as social and environmental criteria. Shorter supply chains are a sensible goal to pursue, for geopolitical reasons”, it added.
The EESC also proposed that, “at least at the level of the work programme, it should be specified which projects will be given priority”. It stressed that “preference will be given to projects enabling the urgent development of the EU’s capacity to build resilience and preparedness against threats, including from hostile states”. It also proposed a reassessment of the target for climate-related spending.
Finally, the Committee argued in favour of maintaining the current role of the CEF Coordination Committee.
To read the Opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/kjk (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)