The “Connecting Europe” Facility is a concrete expression of a new way of thinking and a partnership that will bring equal benefits to all European Union member states because better transport connections, especially for railway transport, would facilitate economic activities and mobility, would improve competitiveness, would increase business opportunities and would transform the European economy into a more eco-friendly economy.
On November 19, MEPs endorsed a deal with member states on the EU’s new Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which aims to speed up funding to complete key trans-European transport, energy and telecommunications links.
The Connecting Europe Facility will have a total budget of about EUR 29.3 Billion (at 2011 prices) for 2014-2020, with some EUR 23.2 Billion earmarked for the transport sector to improve cross-border connections, remove bottlenecks and bridge gaps; EUR 5.12 Billion will be available for energy, to modernise and expand energy infrastructure and increase security of supply; and EUR 1 Billion for telecommunications, to stimulate the development of broadband networks and digital services.
“The CEF will improve the mobility of citizens, goods and services across the EU (…) by dealing with missing links and bottlenecks in the networks“, said rapporteur Dominique Riquet, one of three MEPs responsible for steering the draft rules through Parliament and negotiations with Council, together with co-rapporteur Ines Ayala Sender and rapporteur on energy and telecommunications network funding Adina Ioana Vălean.
“The Connecting Europe Facility implies an increased focus on financial support for the projects with added value and an increased accentuation of using innovative financial instruments. The entire budget allocated to the Connecting Europe Facility for 2014-2020 amounts to EUR 26.2 Billion, EUR 14.9 Billion of which can be accessed by all member states and EUR 11.3 Billion of which are to be transferred to the Cohesion Fund, to be spent in conformity with the CEF Regulation in the member states considered eligible for financing”, declared Stephane Ouaki, Head of Unit, Connecting Europe – Infrastructure investments strategies, DG MOVE, during the Railway Days Summit in Bucharest.
Also, the Connecting Europe Facility will include Specific Programme Support Actions for Cohesion member states experiencing difficulties in proposing projects. The projects considered eligible for financing include the nine freight corridors and other important projects referring to new railway cross-border sections.
“Romania will be able to access EUR 1.2 Billion of the EUR 11.3 Billion for developing important railway projects, CEF Annex includes an important project portfolio for Romania, with several major projects, including cross-border connections and bottlenecks projects. Romania should make sure it fills in the missing links for both the domestic and the border networks”, underlined Stephane Ouaki.
The Connecting Europe Facility will finance priority projects along the nine implementing corridors on the core network. Funding will also be available for a limited number of other sections projects of high European added value on the core network.
Also, the Connecting Europe Faci-
lity makes available funding for horizontal projects – mostly IT related, such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) which must be used throughout the major transport corridors. This is a particular priority – as another innovation on the new core network is that there are tougher obligations for transport systems to “join up”, i.e. to invest in meeting mainly existing EU standards, for example on the common rail signalling system ERTMS.
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