Tuesday, February 24th, 2026
A total of 45 European transport organisations are joining forces and collectively urge national governments to strengthen European funding for transport under the future EU budget and particularly to increase the budget of the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to at least €100 billion.
A robust European transport network is of crucial importance in responding to Europe’s strategic objectives. Only with strong and state-of-the-art transport infrastructure at its core will Europe be able to ramp up its resilience and military preparedness, reinforce its industrial competitiveness and safeguard its supply chain sovereignty. The sector stands ready to deliver but cannot do so without adequate support.
While the ambitions and the investment needs are high, the transport sector continues to struggle with pressing underfunding and financing gaps. This trend of continued underfunding must be reversed, and EU Member States must set the bar high in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF).
If Europe is to succeed in its strategic priorities of building a strong, resilient and competitive Union, it needs a robust European transport network providing the necessary foundation. This must be clearly reflected in the future EU budget. With another round of discussions on the MFF for 2028-2034 taking place during the General Affairs Council on 24 February, the signatory European transport organisations, through an open letter, call on the General Affairs and Finance Ministers to safeguard sufficient EU budget for transport under the future MFF and to particularly strengthen the future CEF instrument. European support to the sector is now more pertinent than ever.
Fernando Liesa, Secretary General of ALICE, stated:
“Europe’s transport and logistics system is undergoing a deep transformation driven by the energy transition, digitalisation and automation. This technology-driven transition collides with growing requirements for competitiveness, resilience and decarbonised logistics and supply chains that are essential for Europe’s economy and societal welfare. It is critical that this reality is fully addressed in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework and across key EU programmes, including Research and Innovation, the Connecting Europe Facility and the future Competitiveness Fund. We call on Member States and the European Union to recognise and embrace this strategic need. By supporting the transport system and network the benefit is to all EU strategies on competitiveness, resilience and autonomy”