After the European Commission released its proposal for the Connecting Europe Facility II (CEF II) for the period 2021-2027, Port of Rotterdam welcomed it. The Port said that it wants to improve sustainable maritime shipping, and the proposal’s vision to protect the climate will help achieve sustainability targets.
The European Commission proposed a budget of €42.3 billion, and the Port of Rotterdam supported cooperation between transport, energy and digital infrastructure, to accelerate the decarbonisation and digitalization of the EU’s economy.
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The Port also welcomed the goal of CEF II to pursue the EU’s climate targets, but it stresses that this should not damage the primary objectives of the CEF II, which is promoting growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment.
As for ports, these are strategic assets for achieving primary objectives, but they have received only 4% of the available EU funding in the period of 2014-2017.
The Port of Rotterdam said:
The Port of Rotterdam aims to become an international frontrunner in the decarbonization of maritime transport and has the ambition to improve the efficiency of port services and stimulate sustainable maritime shipping through facilitating the most promising digital innovations. Therefore, we are committed to making transport flows more sustainable and efficient, alongside the removal of bottlenecks in infrastructure.
In order to improve EC’s proposal, the Port proposed the following:
- Maintenance of 60-40 ratio in the proposed transport budget;
- Clarity on dual-use of civilian and military transport projects;
- Broader definition of cross-border dimension;
- Simplified and clearer procedures on obtaining and extending the status of Project of Common Interest (PCI);
- Careful application of “use it or lose it” policy.
More details can be found in the PDF herebelow