More investment in European high-performance infrastructure

Europe will continue to push ahead with the expansion of modern transport, energy and digital infrastructures. The European Parliament's Industry and Transport & Tourism Committees ensured this today by adopting the Connecting Europe Facility Programme (CEF) beyond 2020.

“Mobility is the basis for jobs and growth. Therefore, we need modern and efficient infrastructures in Europe. It is good news for citizens, businesses and markets that we managed to increase the budget of the programme by almost €6 billion. The 2021-2027 CEF will deliver better for the benefit of the citizens”, said Marian-Jean Marinescu MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group’s Working Group on Budget and Structural Policies and Co-rapporteur on this file for the Transport and Tourism Committee.

There is €43.8 billion in constant prices foreseen for the whole programme in the next long-term EU budget. This includes €33.5 billion for transport, €7.6 billion for energy and €2.6 billion for digital projects. 60% of the CEF contributes to climate actions. The funds will finance European Transport Network (TEN-T) projects, the main arteries of trans-European transport. The CEF also supports the deployment of European traffic management systems for all traffic modes, in particular for air transport and railways. In addition, the funds will be allocated for military mobility to assure a civilian and defence use of the infrastructure.

When it comes to the energy sector, the programme will push for further integration of the internal energy market and will finance cross-border renewable energy projects. The security of supply will be strengthened by making infrastructures smarter and digital.

“The aim of the CEF 2.0 is to accelerate investments in trans-European networks and to have more synergies between the transport, energy and digital sectors. Cross-border connections are crucial to complete the Energy Union and the Digital Single Market”, stated Henna Virkkunen MEP, Co-rapporteur and Member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.

“The focus of the trans-European energy infrastructure is increasingly on electricity interconnections, electricity storages and smart grids. A new element in the CEF 2.0 is cross-border renewable projects. In the area of digital connectivity infrastructure, one important element will be the actions contributing to the access to very high-capacity networks, providing gigabit connectivity, including 5G”, she concluded.