Mediaroom

Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council adopted the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the future  funding instrument for the trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and telecommunications (76/13; statements: 16096/13.

The regulation establishing the CEF determines the conditions, methods and procedures for the Union’s financial contribution to TEN projects. It replaces the existing legal bases for TEN funding.

The CEF’s overarching objective is to help create high-performing and environmentally sustainable interconnected networks across Europe, thereby contributing to economic growth and social and territorial cohesion within the Union.

In accordance with the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF), the overall CEF budget for 2014-2020 is EUR 33 242 259 000. Of this, EUR 26 250 582 000 (including EUR 11 305 500 000 to be transferred from the Cohesion Fund) is allocated to the transport sector, EUR 5 850 075 000 to the energy sector and EUR 1 141 602 000 to the telecommunications sector. Additional investment from private and public sources may be leveraged through the use of innovative financial instruments such as project bonds.

The EU will contribute to the financing of projects at different rates depending on the sector and the type of action concerned. To be eligible for aid from the CEF, the projects must be in line with the requirements set out in the CEF regulation and in the sectorspecific guidelines.

The guidelines for the energy sector have already been adopted and published in the EU’s Official Journal (regulation 347/2013).

The transport guidelines were adopted by the Council at the same meeting as the CEF (42/23).

The telecommunications guidelines have been endorsed by the member states’ Permanent Representatives (16063/13) but still need to be formally approved by the European Parliament and by the Council.