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Verbatim report of proceedings
Tuesday, 7 June 2005 - Strasbourg OJ edition

Policy challenges and budgetary means
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  Etelka Barsi-Pataky (PPE-DE), draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. (HU) Both the current parliament and its predecessors have done a great deal to support the development of trans-European transport networks. A smoothly functioning European infrastructure is one of the vital pillars of the Lisbon strategy and an important prerequisite for European economic, geographic and social cohesion. Last year, 30 projects were selected – including the Marco Polo and Galileo programmes – that are to be given high priority and corresponding financial support by the Community. These 30 priority investment programmes create a network encompassing and linking the fifteen old and ten new Member States; they put an end to bottlenecks, replace missing sections of infrastructure and pay special attention to trans-border sections, in other words, they make the system of European transport networks virtually complete.

In our experience, projects failed to get under way, or got under way only very slowly in past decades, due among other things to the reluctance of the Community to assist with funding. Does the new Financial Perspective change this? Indeed it does. The proposed allocations in the framework of the new Financial Perspective enable average Community funding of 15% and, in addition, other innovative forms of financing have been formulated. This will enable a new type of financing system to evolve, that is more effective than earlier systems and requires smaller contributions from Member States, for the first time in the history of TENs funding. In fact, Community funding will act as a catalyst. It is the unanimous view of the temporary committee that the funds allocated should be regarded as the minimum required.

 
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