Strasbourg, 24/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the Parliament approved the regulation setting out the general rules for granting funding to the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) and the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E). This was done through the adoption in second reading of the report of Mario Mauro (EPP-ED, Italy) on the Council's common position adopted on 22 March (EUROPE 9393). MEPs meeting in the plenary in Strasbourg approved the budget of €8168 million (€8013 million for TEN-T and €155 million for TEN-E) for 2007-13, which allows the Commission to begin the procedure for launching calls for tender for work in 30 priority TEN-T projects. The first call for tender will be launched by the Commission at the end of the week and will be open until 20 July. The five calls for tender will cover the priority projects: ERTMS, SESAR, as well as the ITS routes (intelligent traffic management) and other projects of common interest included in the annual work programme, adopted on Wednesday 23 May by the Commission. Decisions on eligibility of the tenders are expected at the end of the year. (aby)