Brussels, 16/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Commission announced the names of fourteen pilot towns within the EU and five towns in candidate countries that will benefit from aid amounting to a total of EUR 50 million. The aid comes from the 5th Framework Programme for Research and Development. It will be used to set in place bold, innovative and integrated measures in order to radically improve urban transport in the selected towns. The fourteen towns, grouped into 8 projects, are: Aalborg, Barcelona, Berlin, Bremen, Bristol, Cork, Gothenburg, Graz, Lille, Nantes, Rome, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Winchester and, for the candidate countries: Bucharest, Gdynia, Kaunas, Pécs, and Prague.
Financed in the context of the Civitas initiative, the projects aim to combat traffic congestion and pollution, by greater integration of energy and transport policies, and by ensuring the promotion of public transport and clean fuels as well as by improving pricing systems for the use of roads and parking areas. The result of these projects will be presented in the form of a guide for good practices addressed to other towns. The Commission intends to refloat the initiative in 2003 on the basis of this first experience, it announces in a press release. Commission aid amounts to 35% of the project, the rest being financed by the pilot towns.