The European Commission welcomes the provisional agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) proposal, as part of the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027.
The new programme will enable the European Union to lead the way to climate neutrality in line with our A Clean Planet for all proposal and support infrastructure for safe, clean, secure and connected mobility, as proposed by the Commission in the Europe on the Move package. It will also prioritise environmentally friendly modes such as rail and the development of charging points for vehicles using alternative fuels. By making energy systems better interconnected, smarter and safer, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) will help complete the Energy Union and support the clean energy transition. This will enable Europe to remain frontrunner in the clean energy transition in line with the Juncker Commission’s political priority to become the world leader in renewable energy.
The digital strand of CEF will finance strategic digital connectivity infrastructure. This will include 5G corridors for connected and automated mobility, terabit backbone networks linking high performance computers and their users, and gigabit connectivity for key socio-economic drivers (such as schools, hospitals, transport hubs, major public service providers and digitally intensive enterprises) and 5G-ready communities. All this will contribute to unlocking the next generation of Digital Single Market opportunities.
Background
The CEF financial contribution comes mainly in the form of grants, with different co-financing rates depending on the project type. Under the CEF programme, €23.5 billion is available for grants from the EU’s 2014-2020 budget to co-fund TEN-T projects in EU Member States. Since 2014, the first CEF programming year, there have been four yearly waves of calls. In total, CEF has so far supported 688 projects with a total amount of €22.9 billion – leveraging a total investment of €48.1 billion in the EU economy.
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