Europe’s transport sector joins forces in open letter to EU Member States

Europe's transport sector joins forces in open letter to EU Member States

A competitive and resilient Europe requires a stronger EU transport budget

45 European transport organisations, including the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), are joining forces and collectively urge national governments to strengthen European funding for transport under the future EU budget and particularly to increase the budget of the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to at least €100 billion.

A robust European transport network is of crucial importance in responding to Europe's strategic objectives. Only with strong and state-of-the-art transport infrastructure at its core, will Europe be able to ramp up its resilience and military preparedness, reinforce its industrial competitiveness and safeguard its supply chain sovereignty. The sector stands ready to deliver but cannot do so without adequate support.

While the ambitions and the investment needs are high, the sector continues to struggle with pressing underfunding and financing gaps. This trend of continued underfunding of the transport sector must be reversed, and the EU Member States must set the bar high.

As such, if Europe is to succeed in its strategic priorities of a strong, resilient and competitive Union, it needs a robust European transport network providing the necessary fundament. This must be reflected in the future EU budget.

With another round of discussions on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034 due to take place at today's General Affairs Council, 45 signatory European transport organisations in an open letter ask the General Affairs and Finance Ministers to safeguard sufficient EU budget for transport under the future MFF and particularly strengthen the future CEF instrument. European support to the sector is now more pertinent than ever.

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola said: "Completing the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), with a fully interoperable rail system at its core, is increasingly essential for Europe's civil, high-speed and regional, freight and military mobility. Railways are not only central to transport decarbonisation and crisis readiness; they are also key to economic growth, contributing EUR 247 billion in GVA and supporting over 3.1 million jobs across the EU. An ambitious transport budget is needed to match the ambitious TEN-T targets: the Core section of TEN-T alone is estimated at EUR 500 billion up to 2030, while the Comprehensive Network will require nearly EUR 1.5 trillion, in addition to other transport investments needed up to 2050."

The open letter to the EU Member States, with the full list of signatories, can be found here.

Download below the press release.