7.6 billion of European investment to support key transport projects

As team Juncker enters its second year in office, today the European Commission is taking further action to stimulate investment in Europe by launching the second call for proposals of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) endowed with more than €7.6 billion to finance key transport projects. €6.5 billion are earmarked for projects in Member States eligible to the EU Cohesion Fund,  in order to better integrate these countries into the internal market.

In order to achieve synergies with other Commission’s priorities such as the Digital Single Market, this year’s Call for proposal has a special focus on innovative transport. Under the general envelope (€1.1 billion, available to all 28 Member States), sought projects will include Intelligent Transport Systems or traffic management systems such as ERTMS (rail), SESAR (air) or RIS (waterways). The «cohesion» envelope (€6.5 billion, available to 15 Member States) will add to these priorities key infrastructure projects in sustainable transport modes such as rail and inland waterways. This is part and parcel of the Commission’s priority to create an Energy-Union with a forward-looking climate policy.

Support will be granted on a competitive basis in the form of EU co-financing, following a thorough evaluation and selection process. Applicants have until 16 February 2016 to submit their proposals. The outcome of the calls will be published by summer 2016.