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Sep 15 2022

IRU welcomes new EU safe parking funding but more targeted measures needed

RU, the world road transport organisation, welcomes the call for proposals, which was published yesterday, to access a total of EUR 250 million in the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding to improve the network of safe and secure parking areas (SSTPAs) across the European Union (EU).
Similarly to last year’s call, EUR 100 million are allocated to the General envelope and EUR 150 million to the Cohesion envelope. The two envelopes have different eligibility criteria for projects.

 

Several projects benefitted from EU funding following the EU’s 2021 call. IRU has repeatedly called for the funding and welcomes the availability of these important resources. We have to note, however, that despite encouraging progress, the absorption of the 2021 funds was not ideal. As the situation continues to be critical and there remains a significant shortfall of parking spaces across Europe, new solutions are needed to attract successful projects.

 

To make an efficient use of the CEF funding, the EU should consider a broader scope for the eligible projects, such as the extension of the funding for SSTPAs located on the comprehensive network of the Trans-European Transport Network, in future calls for proposals. Currently, numerous potential projects located on the comprehensive network are left outside the scope.

 

Furthermore, a revision of the private co-funding requirements should be considered. Depending on the location of the parking areas, the amount of private co-funding required can reach up to 80%. This makes the application less attractive for many players. Read more

 

Source: IRU