The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the joint report by Henna VIRKKUNEN (EP, FI), Marian-Jean MARINESCU (EPP, RO) and Pavel TELIČKA (ALDE, CZ) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/2014.
The committees recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission's proposal as follows.
Subject matter: the proposed Regulation seeks to establish the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF 2.0). It lays down the objectives of the Programme, the budget for the period 2021-2027, the forms of Union funding and the rules for providing such funding.
Objectives: the Programme has the general objective to build, develop and modernise the trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital and to facilitate cross-border cooperation in the field of renewable energy, in order to contribute to increasing European competitiveness, access to internal market, to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and to consolidate territorial, social and economic cohesion, contributing to the long-term decarbonisation commitments and with emphasis on synergies among transport, energy and digital sectors to the full.
The Programme has the following specific objectives:
In the transport sector:
- contribute to the development of projects of common interest relating to efficient, interconnected, interoperable and multimodal networks and infrastructure for smart, sustainable, inclusive, accessible, safe and secure mobility and European transport area;
- adapt the parts of the trans-European transport network suitable for military transport to dual (civilian and defence) mobility needs.
In the energy sector:
- contribute to the development of projects of common interest relating to further integration of an efficient and competitive internal energy market, interoperability of networks across borders and sectors, facilitating decarbonisation of the economy, and ensuring security of supply and EU energy independence, and to facilitate cross-border cooperation in the area of energy, including renewable energy, and to stimulate energy efficiency.
In the digital sector:
- contribute to the development of projects of common interest relating to the deployment of safe and secure very high capacity digital networks and 5G systems, to the increased resilience and capacity of digital backbone networks on EU territories by linking them to neighbouring territories, as well to the digitalisation of transport and energy network.
Budget: the proposed financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period 2021-2027 is set at EUR 43.85 billion. The distribution of this amount shall be as follows:
- EUR 33.51 billion for transport projects;
- EUR 7.68 billion for energy network projects;
- EUR 2.66 billion for digital network development.
Work programmes: Members proposed that the Commission must present a Framework Programme for the entire MFF period, including a timetable for work programs and calls for proposals, to provide predictability and transparency and allow EU Member States to prepare mature project proposals.