For the benefit of every mode
Record sums from the CEF fund. The European Union has stumped up no less that EUR 7 billion this year alone to co-fund infrastructure projects for improved and sustainable trans-European transport networks. Funding from the CEF fund will also expand solidarity corridors to and from Ukraine.
The funds made available in 2024 represent a record sum. The projects that were awarded contracts were selected for co-financing from a total of 408 applications submitted. Around four fifths of the funds have been earmarked for projects that improve the pan-EU network of railways, inland waterways and maritime transport routes and thus contribute to achieving climate goals.
The lion’s share of the funds will go to large cross-border rail construction projects. These include the expansion of a line on the Lyon–Turin axis, between France and Italy; the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel between Denmark and Germany; and the Rail Baltica project. The latter envisages a 1,000 km transport corridor to seamlessly connect Warsaw (Poland), the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Helsinki (Finland).
Greener transport on inland waterways
20 European seaports will also receive funding to expand their infrastructure. Some of the maritime projects aim to provide shore power for ships, others to promote the transport of renewable energies by sea.
In the field of inland navigation, the EU supports projects that improve cross-border connections between France and Belgium in the Seine-Scheldt basin; and undertakings on the Danube; between Romania and Bulgaria.
Inland ports in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands will additionally receive funding to further develop sustainable transport on European rivers and canals.
Funds for intelligent transport will also flow into road transport efforts, and funds for air traffic management will be made available in the aviation segment. These have been designed to promote the single European sky.
Improving border crossings
On top of this, funding will also be provided to expand projects along solidarity corridors designed to transport goods between the EU and Ukraine. These projects will improve infrastructure at the border crossings between Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, as well as work to increase the capacity of railway crossings between Ukraine and Hungary.
The construction of a new road leading from Poland to the Ukrainian border will also be co-financed, as will measures to integrate the Ukrainian railway system more into that of the European Union.
The CEF Fund was established in 2014. Since then, approximately 1,500 projects have been co-financed, with funds of around EUR 37.5 billion in total. In the years 2021-2027 the EU is supporting transport infrastructure projects in its member states with a total of around EUR 25.8 billion.
Interested parties can submit their applications for the co-financing of projects to Cinea, the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency, once the body has issued its annual public invitation to tender for projects.