European Parliament adopted the upgraded Connecting Europe Facility programme worth €30 billion from 2021 to 2027, which will fund transport, energy and digital projects and ensure that essential Trans-European projects are finished on schedule by 2030.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

Transeuropean Energy Networks (T)

BILBAO BARANDICA, Izaskun (Renew, ES)

VĂLEAN, Adina-Ioana (EPP, RO, EC)

joint debate

Transeuropean Telecommunications Networks (T)

Transeuropean Transport Networks (T)

MARINESCU, Marian-Jean (EPP, RO)

RIQUET, Dominique (Renew, FR)

VIRKKUNEN, Henna (EPP, FI)

Multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 (T)

Connecting Europe: extracts from the joint debate (06/07)

SOUNDBITE (Finnish), Henna VIRKKUNEN (EPP, FI), Rapporteur, <p>We're speaking here now about over 30 billion euros to be invested in a number of different, very important infrastructure projects in energy, transport and in the digital as well. This has great importance, of course, for the competitiveness of Europe, modern, quicker infrastructure that will allow the internal market to work and function more effectively and will help to boost the industry so that in the future of these particular sectors will enjoy flourishing under the new area of digitalisation. </p>

SOUNDBITE (Romanian), Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO), Rapporteur, Apart from making effective use of the funds available, we need European governments coordination in this area when it comes to transfer policy. We need more standardisation and interoperability of systems. And something that's been made clear is that the current management of our railways is simply not good enough. We want to introduce night trains, for instance, but there is always a need for a change: change the locomotive, the drivers, and there are no harmonised rules amongst the member states. So a number of efforts still need to be made.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dominique RIQUET (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, We need to contribute operationally. Europe cannot just be slowly advancing when our neighbours are moving forward with a great speed. Too many large projects are too far behind in Europe. The economic recovery, the environmental transition, fighting the vitality of Europe at local level means that we need to increase the speed of our investment if we want to revitalise our economy and achieve our environmental objectives.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA (Renew, ES), Rapporteur, This is a decisive step forward in order to guarantee the interoperability of national railway systems. It's going to enable us to make trains faster. It's going to enable us to optimise the use of infrastructure by increasing their capacity by up to 30 percent and lowering purchasing and maintenance costs for signalling systems.

SOUNDBITE (English), Adina-Ioana V&#258;LEAN, European Commissioner for Transport, The priority remains Connecting Europe, in line with these principles. The trans-European networks represent the physical connexions between our countries, the transport, energy and digital connexions, where we have physical links, economic, social and emotional links always follow. This makes the trans-European networks vital for our single market, but also the integration at the heart of the European project with the Connecting Europe facility. We have a tool to future proof. Our trans-European networks for transport, energy and Digital.