Thursday, October 15th, 2026
ALICE joins 38 European transport organisations in urging EU leaders to safeguard transport infrastructure funding under the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034. Ahead of the European Council meeting on 15-16 October, the sector warns that proposed cuts to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport budget could undermine Europe’s competitiveness, resilience, decarbonisation and strategic autonomy.
The Irish Presidency’s latest MFF negotiating proposal foresees a reduction in CEF Transport funding from €45.8 billion in the European Commission’s initial proposal to €40.6 billion (2025 prices), representing a cut of approximately 11%.
At a time when Europe needs to strengthen its industrial competitiveness, energy security and strategic autonomy, transport investment should remain a priority. In response, European transport organisations have joined forces to call on EU Heads of State and Government to restore and strengthen EU transport funding.
Europe’s transport and logistics networks are fundamental to the functioning of the Single Market, connecting businesses, industries and regions while supporting the movement of goods across borders.
Reliable, interconnected infrastructure strengthens supply chain resilience, contributes to territorial cohesion and reduces vulnerabilities arising from disruptions and infrastructure bottlenecks. It also supports Europe’s strategic autonomy by enabling more efficient and reliable access to markets, resources and essential goods.
At the same time, significant investment is required to accelerate the energy and digital transition of freight transport and logistics. This includes infrastructure for zero-emission transport, improved multimodal connectivity, increased use of rail and waterborne transport, and interoperable digital systems.
These investments are also essential to advancing ALICE’s vision of the Physical Internet, where interconnected logistics networks, shared resources and seamless data exchange enable more efficient, sustainable and resilient freight transport, logistics and supply chains.
For ALICE, safeguarding CEF Transport funding must go hand in hand with maintaining ambitious investment in research and innovation under the next EU Framework Programme (FP10) and the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF).
Infrastructure and innovation are mutually reinforcing. While CEF supports the development and modernisation of Europe’s transport networks, research and innovation embrace the usage of new technologies and solutions in form of new products, services and operations that shape the competitiveness, resilience and autonomy landscape of the future. European Competitiveness Fund acts as the lever towards large scale deployment of the innovations enabling the required transport transitions linked to energy, decarbonization, efficiency and resilience..
A coherent approach linking CEF Transport, FP10 and ECF is therefore essential to accelerate the uptake of innovative solutions, support decarbonisation and strengthen the long-term competitiveness of European freight transport, logistics and supply chains.
Together with European transport stakeholders, ALICE supports three key requests to EU leaders:
The MFF 2028–2034 negotiations will shape Europe’s transport networks and investment priorities for years to come.
ALICE calls on EU decision-makers to recognise that investment in transport infrastructure, combined with sustained research and innovation funding, and competitiveness funds for large scale deployment is indispensable to achieving Europe’s competitiveness, resilience, decarbonisation and strategic autonomy objectives.
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