Europe’s transport sector joins forces in an open letter to the EU Member States: A competitive and resilient Europe requires a stronger EU transport budget
The IWT sector together with 45 European transport organisations is joining forces and collectively urges 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 coming up during the General Affairs Council taking place on 24 February, all the 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.
Theresia Hacksteiner, Secretary General of the European Barge Union (EBU) and Executive Director of the European IWT Platform: “Major industries and consumers are dependent on a well-functioning waterway network. However, the IWT sector’s ability to deliver on its full potential hinges on robust and resilient infrastructure, especially in the face of increasing challenges like low water levels and the impacts of climate change. IWT is indispensable to Europe’s economic and environmental ambitions. We therefore call upon the Member States to strengthen the funding for transport by increasing the budget of the future Connecting Europe Facility to at least €100 billion.”
The open letter to the EU Member States, with the full list of signatories, can be found here.
