EU Infrastructure charging and investment policy Christophe Deblanc DG TREN

2 Expected growth in transport demand (Baseline)

3 White Paper 2001: Objectives and measures l Objective: gradual decoupling of transport and GDP by re-balancing modal split and improving quality and safety. l A lot of measures including: u Market opening for railways u TEN Guidelines (2004) u Fair pricing for infrastructure use and harmonised taxation

4 Revision of TEN-T guidelines 2004 l Objectives u Time horizon extended to 2020 u Stimulate economic development and Common Market u Enlargement as from 1st May 2004 (integration into EU, increased trade and traffic volumes) u Sustainability requires modal rebalancing and improved intermodality and interoperability u Safety and security (e.g. traffic management systems and Galileo) l Adoption 29 April 2004 (JO L201 7/6/2004)

5 New elements for the TENs l European priorities targeted by focussing investments on priority projects on 30 major trans-national axes l Sustainability addressed by giving priority to rail, intermodality and Motorways of the sea l Organisational means improved to facilitate co-ordination of funding and implementation of projects along the major axes l Financial framework adapted to enable concentration and target bottlenecks at border crossings

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7 Financing the TEN-T l Costs of realisation of full network is € 600 billion to be completed by 2020 l Of which € 250 billion for the priority projects l Sources of funding: u National funding u European funding (TEN-budget, ERDF, Cohesion Fund) u EIB loans u Private sector l Direct user contribution: charging

8 Financing the TEN-T

9 Road charging: existing situation Some countries move to new distance-related charging schemes Isolated initiatives Risk of new distortions Current legislation : Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of HGV Minimum requirements for : – vehicle taxation; – tolls and user charges – Imposed only on motorways; – Great differences remain ; – Eurovignette non related to the use of the infrastructure Inefficient use of infrastructure Wide variety over Europe Lack of price signals related to costs New Proposal from the Commission in 2003

10 Outline of the compromise reached in the Council on l Modification of the scope for road charging: u TEN network; HGV over 3.5 tonnes (instead of 12 t); u Member States are free to apply tolls : F On other roads or to other vehicles; l Charging principle: u Increased possibilities for differentiated prices; u Mark-ups in mountainous areas (congested or sensitive): F 15% or 25% plus earmarking; u Limits for rebates : -13%; l Earmarking of revenues recommended; l Vignette systems or vehicle taxes remains in the Directive

11 Work programme of the Commission for 2005 u Mid-term review of the Commission White paper on common transport policy; u A framework Communication on charging; u New modal Directives for charging. Next steps

12 l Charging rules: u Marginal cost versus other charging strategies; l Revenue use: u impact of different allocation schemes ; l Investment policy: u impact of charging rules on the development of new infrastructures; u Impact of intermodal funds Implications for the project REVENUE l Trend towards efficiency and incentive-led charges l Strong commitment to address the financing of infrastructure

13 The FUNDING project l Estimate the financing gap for investments by mode and by country at horizon 2020 ; l Scenarios for investment infrastructure funds and mark-ups ; l Impacts of different infrastructure fund scenarios l Network as well as project level Other on-going initiatives

14 Thank you for your attention