Brussels, 15/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - On 1 October, the European Commission is expected to present its proposal of decision reviewing the Community guidelines for transeuropean transport networks (TEN-T), with a view to the next EU enlargement. The long-awaited proposal is expected to take on board the broad lines of the content of the High Level Group report on TEN-T, a group headed by Karel Van Miert and responsible for selecting projects eligible for Community funding (EUROPE of 1 July, p.7). It should also propose including Community participation in the overall cost of priority projects from 10-20% and up to 30% for crossborder sections of some projects.
Although most priority projects selected by the Van Miert Group were backed by consensus and should be taken up in the Commission proposal, some were brought into question for environmental reasons and could therefore be excluded. Such is the case above all of the project to construct a motorway link between Greece and Bulgaria through the Kresna Gorge (Bulgaria). The project, several NGOs say, threatens the survival of a large number of animal and plant species (EUROPE of 21 August, p.5). EUROPE, moreover, recalls that two other projects have caused polemic: the construction of a railway link between Brussels-Luxembourg-Strasbourg ("Eurocap-rail"), which is not among the priority projects selected by the Van Miert Group but whose defenders, Belgium and Luxembourg, are convinced that it will be included in the Commission's proposal (EUROPE of 8 July, p.7), and the construction of a bridge over the Messina Straits linking Sicily to the rest of Europe, which is one of the priority projects of the Van Miert Group but whose "priority" nature has caused a great deal of scepticism (EUROPE of 9 July, p.12).
In addition to a list of priority projects to be completed by 2020, the Commission is also expected to propose strengthening coordination between Member states for achieving certain projects located on the main network, nominating a coordinator responsible for promoting the projects and for ensuring follow-up. In time, the creation of common structures, responsible for completion of projects, could be envisaged (an idea put forward at the informal Transport meeting on 4 and 5 July in Naples but which had come up against reticence from several delegations: EUROPE of 7 July, p.7). Finally, for some strategic crossborder projects, the Commission is proposing the implementation of common methods for assessing the environmental impact of projects and consultation of the citizens of Member States concerned (two essential conditions for granting the authorisation to launch a priority project).