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(2004/C 84 E/0309)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3968/03

by Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 January 2004)

Subject:   Trans-European transport network

In the recent Commission documents concerning the Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (1), the Trieste-Divaca railway line, which is part of Community project No 6 (Lyon-Trieste/Koper-Ljubljana-Divaca-Budapest mixed rail line) is not awarded the status of a cross-border section.

Under the Community guidelines, only cross-border projects will be eligible to receive non-reimbursable Community funding equivalent to 30 % of total costs. Therefore, should this status be confirmed, the Trieste-Divaca section would be excluded from European financial assistance with that scope.

This is a complex project spanning the border between Italy and Slovenia, and EU financial assistance is essential. The decision not to view this section as a cross-border section could impact on the scale of EU financial assistance for carrying out the project, which would be detrimental to Italian interests.

Is it true that, unlike the international lines under priority project No 17, which is to say the Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Vienna-Bratislava railway axis, the Trieste-Divaca line will not be eligible to receive 30 % non-reimbursable Community funding? If so, why not?

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-3900/03 and E-3968/03

given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

In order to promote sustainable mobility in the enlarged Europe, the Commission proposed a revision of the Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) on 1 October 2003. 29 priority projects were identified in this Commission proposal on which the Transport Council reached a political agreement on 5 December 2003. The Commission's proposal follows broadly the recommendations of the Van Miert High Level Group. The High Level Group examined the possibility to include among the priority projects the construction of a high speed line between Trieste and Ljubljana (Trieste-Divaèa). The Group concluded that at this stage it was premature for a new section to be considered as part of the Community priority project No 6 (i.e. the Lyon-Trieste/Koper-Ljubljana-Divaca-Budapest mixed rail line).

However the Commission would like to recall that although the Trieste-Divaca railway line is not included as a section of the priority project No 6 in the Commission proposal of 1 October 2003, this line was identified in the TEN-T guidelines (railway section) adopted in 1996 as a project of common interest (see Decision of the Parliament and Council No 1692/96/EC of 23/07/1996 on ‘Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network’ (2)). The revised Guidelines' proposal confirmed the entire line as a project of common interest. As such, studies on this section, if they fulfil the conditions provided by Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 of 18 September 1995 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks (3), can be co-financed through the TEN-T budget up to 50 % of their total cost.

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(1)  COM(2003) 564 final.

(2)OJ L 228, 9.9.1996.

(3)OJ L 228, 23.9.1995.

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