In Poland positive signs from Commission that EU Funds for rails stay for rails

According to a leading Polish daily (Polish language), first negotiations between Polish vice ministers and European Commission representatives last week failed to convince the Commission to allow a shift of EUR 1,2 billion away from railway projects to motorway construction.

As Bankwatch earlier reported, governments in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are planning to reallocate EU funds from sectors such as education, regional development and rail development towards the construction of motorways. These moves triggered letters of protest from nongovernmental organisations in both Slovakia (pdf) and Poland (Polish language) to European decision makers and authorities.

For now it appears that the Commission remains sceptical of such reallocations. Hope remains that it will not allow a compromise of EU goals to support environmentally-friendly transport modes as set out in its Europe 2020 strategy.

Replacing the 'motorways uber alles' attitude in CEE countries with a focus on sustainable rail and urban transport is long overdue. (Look out for our upcoming newsletter Bankwatch Mail 47 for more background information on the case.)

Image: To strenghten environmentally friendly transport in central and eastern Europe, EU funds spending needs to stay on track and not shifted to more motorways. (Original image CC 2.0 by Vlasta Juricek - http://bit.ly/dSqS6k)

Tags: cohesion EU funds public transport rail road

Institution: EU Funds

Theme: Transport