EU Seeks Ways to Bolster Transport Infrastructure Spending

Brdo pri Kranju, 6 May

EU transport ministers heard a strong call from the European Commission for additional spending to be provided for priority transport infrastructure projects at their informal meeting at Brdo pri Kranju on Tuesday.

European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told the morning session of the meeting, dedicated to the progress in building the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), that additional spending was needed to complete the TEN-T priority projects in time.
Barrot warned that spending on transport infrastructure in the EU had dropped from 1.5% of GDP in 1980 to 0.5% today. In his opinion, the successful completion of projects requires spending to rise to "at least 1%".
He said the timely completion of the network was essential for the achievement of EU's ambitious goals to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
In seeking to adopt the energy-climate package "the EU Council must be aware that in order to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020...it must be possible to set up the infrastructure by then".
Slovenian Transport Minister Radovan Zerjav, who chaired the meeting, stressed that Barrot's department had prepared a thorough report on progress in TEN-T, with the aim of highlighting delays, which the ministers examined at the meeting.
According to Zerjav, the EU had to be aware that a high-quality transport network was needed to promote trade with the rest of the world, including with the rapidly developing Asian economies.
The exchange was part of an ongoing debate in the bloc aimed at finding a way to balance the environmental and economic interests in transport.
Cargo transport is an area of particular concern for the bloc, as experts have warned that failure to act in lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the sector could threaten the EU's ambitious goals for cutting overall emissions by 20% by 2020.
Asked about how the Commission would go about enforcing that the member states push ahead with projects on time, Barrot said that for the 2007-2013 budget period the countries have committed EUR 150bn for the cause in writing.
He explained that the Commission would push for the goals related to sustainable mobility to be included in the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy as a means of putting pressure on the member states.
Moreover, Barrot hopes that the spring summits of EU leaders would in the future include a review of the progress on the TEN-T.
Better monitoring was a crucial means for making sure that the member states are living up to their promises, said Barrot, who today presented the first report on progress on the 30 priority transport projects.
He said that the document shows that a third of the projects had been completed, while another third would be completed by 2013. The final third would be finished by 2020.
A key tool for raising investment in transport infrastructure is private public partnership and the ministers were briefed today by European Investment Bank President Philipe Maystadt, who presented a new long-term loan guarantee tool aimed at attracting private investors to projects.
Barrot also pointed out that the Commission has been tasked with improving the legal framework for public-private partnership in funding transport infrastructure across the EU.
The afternoon session of the meeting will be dedicated to methods for incorporating external costs of transport, including its environmental impact, into the applicable charges.
The commissioner stressed that the "greening measures" must include all modes of transport to be truly effective. He announced that the Commission would unveil a legislative package in mid-June dealing with "green charging".
One of the goals of this package is to promote clean vehicles by making road charges dependent on the amount of pollution caused by a vehicle. The revenues from greening measures would be channeled into building sustainable mobility, explained Barrot.

EU Seeks Ways to Bolster Transport Infrastructure Spending

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