It is our pleasure to share with you the statement of Catherine Trautmann, North-Sea Baltic Tent-T corridor coordinator, about the Rail Baltica project implementation.
Brussels, 6 June 2018
Statement by Catherine Trautmann, North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor CoordinatorAs European Coordinator for the TEN-T North Sea-Baltic Corridor, I am pleased with the proposal that the European Commission has adopted today for the new Connecting Europe Facility for the next multiannual financial perspectives for the years 2021-2027. The proposed extensions of the Corridor bring new strategic dimensions and opportunities for the economic corridor development. The major missing cross-border link on the North Sea-Baltic Corridor, the Rail Baltica project, will have the possibility to continue to access EU co-funding with the highest permissible rate (up to 85%), if the Commission’s proposal is confirmed in the upcoming negotiations between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. What is more, the overall budgetary envelope proposed for the Connecting Europe Facility is not only increased in comparison to the previous period, but includes a possibility for projects eligible under the Cohesion Fund to compete for a share of the funding transferred to the Connecting Europe Facility from the very start of the next financial period. Mature projects will thereby have the chance to compete for funding above the so-called national envelopes. Further complementary funding may also come through the military mobility stream. Now it is up to the project promoters to finalise the preparatory studies and designs in due time, in order to be able to make use of these future opportunities. The agreements in place and further measures to strengthen the project governance under the umbrella of RB Rail should allow for the high level of cooperation between all partners that is required in that respect.