Commission launches new initiative to extend TENs network to Central and Eastern Europe
Practical preparations for future EU enlargement have taken a step forward with the launching on 7 May 1996 of an EU initiative to prepare the extension of the trans-European transport networks (TENs) to Central Europe. Speaking at the first meeting of a working group of senior transport officials from the EU Member States and 10 Central European countries, Mr. Neil Kinnock, Commissioner responsible for transport, said that safe, efficient and environmentally-friendly transport links between all the Member States of the enlarged Union would be basic essentials for successful enlargement. Key issues to be addressed by this initiative, the Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment (TINA), will include: - Establishment of multimodal network plans for the Central European countries, comparable to the existing TENs in the EU, to ensure adequate east-west and north-south links throughout the region as well as with the enlarged Union's eastern and southern neighbours; - Identification of priority projects of common interest necessary to make the network function; - Examination of both public and private financing possibilities. Regarding financing, Mr. Kinnock stressed the importance of private capital sources alongside public funds, and suggested the possibility of a Europe-wide transport infrastructure investment partnership between the Member State governments, the governments of the other interested countries, and the private sector.
Countries
Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia