TEN-T DAYS 2016: public-private investment needed to complete the EU's transport network - Hoofdinhoud

​

Europe's cities and regions are committed to prioritising the European wide corridors, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). This, along with small-scale local infrastructure investments, forms the basis for mobility services European citizens need in their everyday life. “We - the cities and regions - stress the crucial role of transportation in implementing the EU's Urban Agenda  was the key message delivered by the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, to an audience of 3000 decision makers and experts gathered in Rotterdam for the T-DAYS 2016, on 20 June.

During the debate with EU Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc, and representatives of all other EU Institutions, President Markkula insisted on multilevel governance and strong European partnerships as the two main factors required for a successful implementation of the EU transport backbone.

Funding of the European transport network was crucial, the CoR President stressed: "The innovative use of the Cohesion Funds as a catalyst is of utmost importance for the development and upgrading of EU's transport infrastructure. Simplification and revising the current long term EU budget are needed ensure that the opportunities offered by European, national and local funds, both public and private, are fully exploited".

Nonetheless, EU, national and regional investment must provide the tools and perspectives to engage private investors: "We need to make better use of financing offered by the European Investment Bank (EIB), including the European Fund for Strategic Investment, to allow a smart mix of loans and grants which address the specific needs of integrated infrastructure projects". This is why the CoR is intensively cooperating with the EIB to better inform and support local and regional authorities about these tools.

Referring to the challenge of attracting resources to smaller scale projects, President Markkula recalled the potential of the investment platforms foreseen in the framework of the European Plan for Investment. This includes focusing on traffic and transportation investments which can play a strong role in implementing the Paris COP21 climate targets.

He also insisted on solving the issue of missing transport links in border regions and welcomed the attention payed to this issue in the Declaration of Rotterdam adopted by EU transport ministers.

Restarting investment on strategic infrastructure is clearly a top priority for EU, national, regional and local institutions. This is even more understandable taking into account that, as shown by a recent study, for any Euro invested into Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), almost 6 Euro would be generated by 2030 and about 230,000 jobs would be created. This vital challenge for the future of Europe will be discussed and assessed in depth at the European Summit of Cities and Regions in Bratislava on "Connect and Invest", aiming at fostering investments and better targeting EU financial resources, also in transport area.