Organisations Across Europe Ask EU to Invest More in Transport
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Thursday, September 21, 2017
With the slogan “More EU budget for transport, the best investment plan for Europe” a coalition of thirty European transport organisations are launching today their campaign for a strong connecting Europe Facility for the next financial period 2021-2028.
“We are very pleased to see that 30 transport organisations, covering all modes and nodes, service providers, users and cargo owners are supporting this plea for a strong financial support for the completion of the TEN-T network," says ESPO’s Secretary General Isabelle Ryckbost.
"750 billion euro is needed to complete the TEN-T core network. We all know that transport projects with a high societal return do not always generate the necessary return on investment. We also believe that CEF support is the best guarantee to deliver high EU added value and responsible grant management”, Isabelle added.
“Ports face a continual challenge to invest in long-lived port infrastructure. Even where such investments provide high added value and generate substantial economic returns, they often have low financial returns for the port authority. In the context of the review of the Connecting Europe Facility, ESPO will continue to make the case for continued and increased financial support in a variety of forms. Grants are an essential component of this”, says ESPO’s Chairman, Eamonn O‘Reilly.