ESPO welcomes the European Commission’s decision to continue the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, thereby ensuring that the financing of further development and upgrades to Europe’s transport and energy network can be supported through a centrally managed European funding instrument with a solid budget envelope.

“Stepping up transport infrastructure and connectivity is key to realising Europe’s ambitions in terms of competitiveness and resilience. We welcome the CEF proposal and see in the proposal a clear recognition of the important geostrategic role of ports as cross-border multimodal nodes which serve not only as transport hubs, but can also be gateways for trade, industrial clusters, military mobility, and energy hubs. Ports can only fulfil their role if they are able to make the necessary investments and get support to finance the investments which serve the public interest but do not give the needed return to the investing port. We hope that the Parliament and Member States understand this need to invest and its urgency“, says Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General.

The proposed increase of the CEF to €81.4 billion, represents a positive and essential development for the European port sector. However, ESPO sees the proposed increase of the CEF Transport and the CEF Energy as a minimum if Europe and its Member States want to deliver on their strategic objectives. Only with robust transport and energy infrastructure at its core, and more in particular, adequate support for the necessary port investments will Europe be able to reinforce its industrial competitiveness, enhance military mobility and resilience, secure access to critical raw materials and energy products, promote economic, social, and territorial cohesion, deliver on Europe’s decarbonisation goals and safeguard Europe’s future-proof position in global supply chains.

ESPO furthermore welcomes the emphasis on the cross-border dimension of European ports as underlined in the annex of the CEF proposal, hereby confirming what had already been enshrined in the TEN-T Regulation of 2024.

Moreover, as it has been proven over the past years, ports also play a predominant role in facilitating military preparedness and strengthening Europe’s overall resilience. By reinforcing the dual-use capabilities of ports, the CEF helps to ensure that critical nodes in the transport network are well equipped to respond to the emerging geopolitical challenges.

Europe’s seaports believe the proposal is a strong starting point for ensuring that Europe’s ambitions in terms of resilience, competitiveness and decarbonisation can be reached. ESPO urges the EU institutions and Member States to create a dedicated, reliable and coherent CEF budget directly for port infrastructure that recognises the strategic and cross-border role of European ports.

A resilient, sustainable, and competitive Europe must be built on a foundation of strong and future-proof ports.

The ESPO position can be found here