The Commission has selected 134 transport projects to receive over €7 billion in EU grants from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's instrument for strategic investment in infrastructure. This represents the largest call under the current CEF Transport programme, according to the EU's release.
Around 83% of the funding will support projects that deliver on the EU's climate objectives, improving and modernising the EU network of railways, inland waterways and maritime routes along the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network. Rail projects will receive 80% of the €7 billion. Furthermore, the revised TEN-T Regulation will take effect starting tomorrow, July 18.
Funding will go to major projects to improve cross-border rail connections along the TEN-T core network – in the Baltic Member States (Rail Baltica), between France and Italy (Lyon-Turin), and between Denmark and Germany (Fehmarnbelt tunnel).
Around 20 maritime ports in Ireland, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Malta, Lithuania, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, and Poland will receive support for infrastructure upgrades, some of which will enable them to supply shore-side electricity to ships, or transport renewable energy.
Work on inland waterway infrastructure will improve cross-border connections between France and Belgium in the Seine-Scheldt basin, and between Romania and Bulgaria on the Danube. Inland ports in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands will also receive funding, so that they may continue to promote Europe's network of rivers and canals for sustainable transport.
The 134 projects have been selected from a total of 408 applications submitted under this call for proposals, which closed on 18 January 2024.
EU funding will take the form of grants, which will be used to co-finance total project costs.
Under the CEF Transport programme for 2021-2027, €25.8 billion are available for grants to co-fund TEN-T projects in the Member States. Since 2014, CEF has supported over 1,500 projects with €37.5 billion in the transport sector (excluding to projects selected today).