EP STUDY HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR MORE BUDGET FOR EU TRANSPORT
A new study prepared for the European Parliament’s TRAN Committee examines the role of transport investment in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, highlighting the importance of maintaining strong EU-level funding to support connectivity, competitiveness, decarbonisation and resilience across the transport sector.
The document assesses the interaction between current EU funding instruments, including the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), cohesion funds, InvestEU and European Investment Bank financing, and examines how these can better support the completion of the TEN-T network.
It also highlights the strategic role of CEF-Transport as the main EU instrument for cross-border and multimodal infrastructure projects. The study notes that while previous EU transport investments delivered significant added value, implementation across Member States has remained uneven, with delays, administrative complexity and insufficient coordination continuing to affect project delivery.
The study further underlines the growing importance of investments linked to rail digitalisation, ERTMS deployment, alternative fuels infrastructure, ports, logistics platforms and multimodal freight terminals. Delays in these areas are considered likely to undermine the EU’s competitiveness, climate objectives and military mobility ambitions.
In addition, concerns are raised regarding the increasing flexibility and the potential “nationalisation” of EU funding, warning that fragmentation could weaken the strategic European dimension of transport policy. The study also calls for simplified procedures, stronger performance-based frameworks and increased technical assistance to improve implementation capacity, particularly for complex cross-border projects.
Source: European Parliament