Jun232017

Connecting Europe Facility – Results of the 2016 Transport calls for proposals

EU

152 projects, requesting a total of €2.7 billion in EU funding, were selected for funding.

What are the types of projects which receive funding?

The 2016 Connecting Europa Facility (CEF) Transport calls for proposals have three funding objectives:

  • Removing bottlenecks and bridging missing links, enhancing rail interoperability, and, in particular, improving cross-border sections that invite applicants from all Member States
  • Ensuring sustainable and efficient transport systems in the long run, with a view to preparing for expected future transport flows, as well as enabling all modes of transport to be decarbonised through transition to innovative low-carbon and energy-efficient transport technologies, while optimising safety
  • Optimising the integration and interconnection of transport modes and enhancing the interoperability of transport services, while ensuring the accessibility of transport infrastructures

Funding is awarded to carry out works supporting these three objectives or studies.

Who applied?

349 applicants from all Member States and several neighbouring countries submitted proposals for a total of nearly €7.5 billion of co-funding by the call deadline on 7 February 2017. The applicants were mostly Member States and public or private undertakings.

All Member States could apply for funding under the general calls, whereas only the 15 Member States eligible for funding from the EU’s Cohesion Fund could apply for funding under the Cohesion call.

The CEF call has been over-subscribed almost 4 times, and the Cohesion envelope 6.5 times the amount of funds indicatively available.

Which Member States are eligible for funding from the EU’s Cohesion Fund?

The eligible Member States are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Could third countries participate?

Applicants from neighbouring countries could participate in the calls under certain conditions and may only receive financial assistance if it is necessary to the achievement of the objectives of a given project of common interest. Further information is available on the call’s FAQ page. One project in Serbia for navigation on Rhine-Danube corridor will receive financing within this call.                                                                         

How much funding was available under the 2016 CEF Transport calls for proposals?

€1.9 billion was available to fund one or several call objectives. An additional sum of €639 million from unspent funds of several ongoing actions was made available to support projects in Member States eligible for funding from the EU’s Cohesion Fund.

How is the EU funding for transport infrastructure awarded?

CEF Transport funding is awarded via competitive calls for proposals mainly through grants. The 2016 CEF Transport calls for proposals were published by the European Commission’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) on 13 October 2016 and remained open until 7 February 2017.

The selection was based on a standard evaluation process in two phases:

  • External assessment by independent experts basing their evaluation on pre-identified award criteria to ensure transparency and equal treatment of all eligible proposals
  • Internal selection by the Commission service in charge of Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), which undertook a qualitative analysis of the overall contribution of projects for the development of EU transport policy

Following these two steps, 152 projects, requesting a total of €2.7 billion in EU funding, were retained. The European Commission’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency will prepare and sign individual grant agreements with project beneficiaries by autumn 2017.

What projects will get CEF funding under the 2016 calls for proposals?

Projects selected for funding are those with the highest EU added-value and primarily located on the core trans-European transport network. In order to ensure the most effective use of limited EU resources, these grants will be reserved for projects which are difficult to implement due to their cross-border nature, or due to a very long return on investment.

Examples of projects to be financed under the general envelope include:

  • Deployment of Air Traffic Management solutions for faster, safer and more efficient travel in EU Member States (€274.8 million CEF co-funding)
  • Construction of the second tunnel tube for the Karawanken road tunnel on the Austria-Slovenia cross-border section to improve road traffic flow, as well as increase capacity and road safety (€17.7 million CEF co-funding)
  • Deployment of 158 high-speed electric charging points in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy to make electric travel across borders possible (€10.2 million CEF co-funding)

The calls that were open for projects in Member States eligible for funding from the EU’s Cohesion Fund will support the flagship infrastructure projects on the core Trans-European transport network, in particular those which address low carbon modes of transport such as railways, inland waterways and ports.

Examples of projects financed include:

  • Upgrade of the Białystok-Ełk section of the E75 railway line in Poland, including trackside ERTMS deployment, to shorten the travel time and increase the efficiency and safety of rail transport (€338 million CEF co-funding)
  • Third stage of the Rail Baltica project that will adapt the rail link between the Baltic States to the EU gauge (€110.5 million CEF co-funding)
  • Implementation of harmonised and synchronised Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications on the high level road network in the Central European region for improved cross-border traffic (€4.2 million CEF co-funding)
  • Modernisation and development of the rail infrastructure necessary for transport operations at the Rijeka Port – (€28.6 million CEF co-funding)

How does the co-financing work? How much money comes from Member States and how much from the EU?

Transport infrastructure requires significant investment – and an important share will always come from Member States and other public and private investors. The EU’s role in terms of investment and co-ordination is to add value by removing difficult bottlenecks and building missing links and connections, and to support the creation of a real European transport network.

The normal CEF co-financing rates for TEN-T projects are:

  • For the cohesion envelope: up to 85% for all projects
  • For the general envelope:

o    Up to 50% for studies

o    Up to 10% for works on cross-border road sections

o    Up to 20% for works (for example exploratory works for a major tunnel)

o    Up to 50% for certain traffic management projects, like for ERTMS, to support Member States making the transition to higher standards

The call texts do not define the minimum amount of requested funding. The European Commission however strongly encourages applicants to only submit projects requesting an EU contribution for the eligible costs above €500,000 for studies and €1,000,000 for works. Applications below these thresholds are checked on a case-by-case basis.

How will the projects be managed?

The CEF Programme is managed centrally by the European Commission, which sets the political priorities and is responsible for the selection of projects through competitive calls for proposals.

The Commission is assisted by INEA for the evaluation and selection of projects and for the overall technical and financial monitoring of project implementation.

Beneficiaries in the Member States manage the projects, and the Member States remain responsible for monitoring the implementation of the projects.

What are the perspectives for further financing?

A CEF Blending call for €1bn EU funds is ongoing with two milestones for applications: 14 July and Nov. 2017. This allows financing projects across CEF objectives, in combination with EFSI funds whenever possible, or, for projects removing bottlenecks or with cross-border benefits, also with EIB, National Promotional Banks or private sector.

About 95% of the CEF Transport budget 2014-2020 will be committed, once the CEF Blending call amount of € 1 billion will be allocated (expected by end 2017). Thus, to support investments in the key priority area (promoting connectivity, efficiency, decarbonisation and digitalisation of transport) in the second half of the MFF 2014-2020, efforts to find additional sources of funds have to be made, including the proposed increase of ceilings for CEF-Transport by €300 million (under MFF Mid-Term Review), use of blending, ESI funds, EFSI and leverage of private sources whenever possible.

In addition, the European Structural Investment funds (ESI funds) Operational Programmes of Members States foresee funding of about EUR 70 billion for Transport investments during 2014-2020.

Jun232017

Government response: Statement responding to Camden Council’s decision to evacuate residents of the Chalcots estate

HM Government

This is the response from a Department for Communities and Local Government spokesperson:

The safety of residents is paramount.

Camden Council and the Fire and Rescue Service are rightly working together to implement their responsibilities under the Emergency Fire Safety Review that we sent them yesterday (22 June).

As we said, in the most serious cases this involves residents being moved out of their homes while they are made safe.

This is clearly distressing for those involved and the every effort will be made to reduce the disruption as they make temporary arrangements in line with their emergency plans.

The government, through London Resilience, is offering every assistance in getting this done as swiftly and safely as possible.

Jun232017

More than $350 million pledged for refugees in Uganda; ‘A good start, we cannot stop,’ says UN chief

United Nations

23 June 2017 – A ‘Solidarity Summit’ for refugees hosted by Uganda has raised some $358 million in pledges, the United Nations announced today.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that it was a &#8220good starting point&#8221 although the international conference was looking to raise $2 billion.

In just the past year, the overall refugee population in Uganda has more than doubled, largely due to an influx of desperate people fleeing violence and instability in South Sudan &#8211 from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million &#8211 making the East African country host to the world’s fastest growing refugee emergency.

Convened by President Yoweri Museveni and the UN Secretary-General, the Summit sought to rally international support for refugees and host communities in the form of donations, investments and relevant programmes, over the next four years.

Mr. Guterres noted that the World Bank and the African Development Bank had promised &#8220innovative funding&#8221 for projects involving both refugees and the local communities.

&#8220We cannot stop,&#8221 he underscored, recalling that several of the countries agreed to put forward their pledges in the weeks to come.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Jun232017

Security ‘number one concern’ of displaced Iraqis seeking to return home – UN study

United Nations

23 June 2017 – With three million Iraqis remaining internally displaced across the country, the United Nations migration agency today published findings of a study showing that the decision to return or remain displaced depends largely on how close their home is to the frontline of conflict.

The study, titled Obstacles to Return in Retaken Areas of Iraq, commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has surveyed more than 1.7 million Iraqis who opted to return, posing questions as to the factors that motivate, or inhibit, Iraqis from returning to their areas of origin.

The qualitative and quantitative data collection was carried out in eight sub-districts the Government has recently retaken from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).

Security in the areas of origin topped all other factors in influencing the decision to return home or remain displaced, with proximity to the frontline &#8211 and perceived instability in the place of origin &#8211 remaining the most relevant obstacle for return, according to the study.

Speaking to reporters at the regular bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva, IOM spokesperson Joel Millman said security is the &#8220number one concern. If they feel fighting is still going on or that the people who had destroyed their homes are still at large in the community &#8211 that is a major deterrent.&#8221

Feelings of trust towards the security actors in control of the areas of origin promotes a higher number of returns, while fear of security actors in the place origin is a strong drawback and reinforces the perceived advantage of staying in displacement, the study finds.

Fear of reprisal back home is a concern for more than 30 per cent of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) interviewed. However, that perception is much lower among interviewed returnees, at 10 per cent.

The data suggest that damage to housing does not constitute an obstacle to return, although the presence of actors whom IDPs hold responsible for the damage inflicted in a given location is, noted IOM.

Livelihood options and previous or current employment status also play an important role in influencing the decision to return. IDPs who have jobs in the location of displacement are less inclined to return home. By contrast, those who are unemployed appear to be more likely to return to seek new opportunities.

The study shows that almost a quarter of interviewed IDPs who decided to return were prevented from doing so, mostly by delays in processing their documentation, or by being stopped at checkpoints on the way back to their place of origin.