FIEC asks for more EU budget for transport
Date
08 Oct 2019
Sections
InfoSociety
A coalition of stakeholders in which FIEC is taking part and which aims at raising awareness for the potential of the transport sector and its financial needs stresses that a stronger EU budget for transport is of utmost importance for the European economy: “On its own, completing the TEN-T network will create 10 million extra jobs by 2030. State-of-the art transport infrastructure is also an investment in long-term growth and jobs. Investing € 750 billion [could] generate € 4,551 billion additional GDP. Every billion invested in the core network will create close to 20,000 new jobs.”
Investing in TEN-T means investing in the EU's future. When dealing with the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) the European Council must take this into account and back this potential with appropriate financial means. The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy aims at removing bottlenecks, addressing missing links, improving interoperability among different transport modes and among regional and national transport infrastructure and integrating urban areas into the network. Initially created by the Treaty of Maastricht, its last revision was in 2013. The 2013 Regulation differentiates between a comprehensive and a core network - the former including remote areas, the latter containing corridors of “highest strategic importance”. According to the Regulation, the core network should be completed by 2030 while the comprehensive network should be established in 2050.
In order to foster investment in the TEN-T and to meet the policy’s objectives, a specific funding instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), was created in 2013. Regrettably, the CEF is currently strongly under financed. Since 2017, 3 years before its end, the CEF budget for transport has all been used. The demand for CEF funds has exceeded the available resources by around 150%. If the CEF transport budget does not increase in 2021-2027, the completion of the core network is at risk due to insufficient budget. In fact, the completion of the core network by 2030 requires more than €750 billion.
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FIEC is the European Construction Industry Federation, representing via its 31 National Member Federations in 27 countries (25 EU & EFTA and Turkey) construction enterprises of all sizes, i.e. small and medium-sized enterprises as well as “global players”, carrying out all forms of building and civil engineering activities.
Press contact: Karl Thies Email: info@fiec.eu