The European Commission, it was reported on July 3rd, selected 94 transport projects receiving together almost EUR 2.8 billion of grants under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The projects aim at enhancing connectivity across the EU, as well as resilience and competitiveness.
77% of the funding has been allocated to rail transport, including for the construction of new connections and improvement of rail safety and interoperability across borders.
Ports also profit from the allocated funding, for example, through support for the rollout of shore-side electricity to reduce shipping emissions at berth. Safety and efficiency improvements are foreseen for short-sea shipping in France and Spain, through investments in digital traffic management systems.
The 94 projects that were selected have been chosen from 258 submitted applications under the call for proposals which closed this year on January 21st.
The CEF transport budget for 2021-2027 amounts to EUR 25.8 billion of which 95% has been allocated so far.
