STOA WorkshopInnovative financingfor cross-bordertransportParticipants' booklet

EPRS | European Parliamentary Research ServiceScientific Foresight Unit (STOA)

PE 603.186

STOA workshop

Innovative financing for cross-border transport

Participants’ booklet

6 June 2017, 14 :00-17 :30

Paul-Henri Spaak building, room P7C050

European Parliament, Brussels

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Table of contents

1. Workshop programme ................................................................................................................ 3

2. Agenda........................................................................................................................................... 4

3. Introduction to the topic.............................................................................................................. 5

4. Speakers’ biographies .................................................................................................................. 7

4.1. Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, Member of European Parliament..................... 7

4.2. Claudia Schmidt, Member of the European Parliament................................................. 7

4.3. Daniela Carvalho, TIS .......................................................................................................... 8

4.4. Carlo Secchi, European Coordinator for Atlantic Corridor, European Commission,DG MOVE.............................................................................................................................. 8

4.5. Pavel Branda, Vice-Mayor of Rádlo Municipality and Member of the EuropeanCommitte of the Regions (CoR).......................................................................................... 9

4.6. Dirk Peters, Team leader/Senior Specialist for European territorial cooperation andEGTC, DG REGIO ................................................................................................................ 9

4.7. Julien de Labaca, Transfermuga project – Eurorégion Aquitaine-Euskadi.................. 9

4.8. Josè Maria Costa, Mayor of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, Eixo Atlântico.................... 10

4.9. Julianna Orbán Máté, EGTC Via Carpatia ...................................................................... 10

4.10. Krzysztof Żarna, CETC-EGTC...................................................................................... 11

4.11. Sonja van Renssen, journalist and moderator of the debate .................................... 11

5. About STOA................................................................................................................................ 12

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1. Workshop programme

Promoted in the context of the project ' New ways of financing transport infrastructure projectsin Europe' carried out by TIS.pt at the request of the Science and Technology OptionsAssessment (STOA) Panel, and managed by the Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) within theDirectorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (DG EPRS) of the EuropeanParliament, the workshop aims at:

Providing the most important stakeholders with an opportunity to provide input tothe analysis being performed for the European Parliament (in addition to theinterviews)

Providing an opportunity for Members of the European Parliament to directly discussthe matters at stake with the most important stakeholders; and

Engaging stakeholders in the discussion of preliminary project results and collectinginsights regarding the policy options to be proposed.

The workshop is structured in three parts: The first part will give a set of three key actors – theproject leader, two representatives of the European Commission and a representative of theCommittee of the Regions – the opportunity to communicate their views on the topic. This willprovide the attendees with comprehensive information on the topics and issues at stake,facilitating their participation in the debate.

The second part will be an informed debate, with stakeholders being invited to share theirown concrete experiences. The third part will be an enlarged debate in which the variousspeakers will be available to answer questions or react to comments put forward by theaudience.

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2. Agenda

Co-hosted by Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, MEP and MEP Claudia Schmidt

14.00 – 14.20: Opening address

Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, Member of the European Parliament

Claudia Schmidt, Member of the European Parliament

14.20 – 14.30: Short Introduction, Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, Member of theEuropean Parliament.

14.30 – 14.40: Introducing the findings of the study ‘New ways of financing transportinfrastructure projects in Europe’ by Daniela Carvalho, TIS

14.40 – 15.00 ‘Innovative ways of financing cross border infrastructure beyond TEN-T’ byCarlo Secchi, European Coordinator for Atlantic Corridor, European Commission, DG MOVE

15.00 – 15.20: ‘Cross border investment leveraging growth and cohesion’ by Pavel Branda,Vice-Mayor of Rádlo Municipality and Member of the Committee of the Regions

15.20 – 15.40 ‘The role of European Commission in cross-border transport projects’ by DirkPeters, Team leader/Senior Specialist for European territorial cooperation and EGTC, DGREGIO

15.40 – 16.50: Open debate, “Which changes are needed to enhance the role of cross-borderfinancing?” - The debate will be moderated by Sonja van Renssen, journalist and co-founderof Energy Post, with the following panellists:

Julien de Labaca, Euroregion Nouvelle Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra EGTC

Josè Maria Costa, Mayor of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, Eixo Atlântico

Krzysztof Żarna, CETC-EGTC

Julianna Orbán Máté, Via Carpatia EGTC

16.50 – 17.00: Closing address

Claudia Schmidt, Member of the European Parliament

Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, Member of the European Parliament

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3. Introduction to the topic

Investment in new technologies and infrastructure is a key element of a shift towards adecarbonised and energy sustainable transport system. It is thus not surprising that the maintransport investment mechanism of the European Commission, the Connecting EuropeFacility, is orienting its activities to the completion of the core network corridors fostering theintroduction of new technologies, with a particular focus on cross-border projects.

Problems for financing of cross-border transport infrastructure investment are widelyrecognised…

The focus on financing large-scale trans-european transport infrastructures is in sharpcontrast with the relatively few resources available to address smaller scale infrastructureproblems in Europe's border regions, especially those not located along the Trans-EuropeanTransport Network (TEN-T) corridors. This situation is potentially raising problems andhampering the development of these regions, which strongly relies on the availability oftransport infrastructure facilitating the movement of people and goods between towns, cities,and businesses across both sides of the border.

The issue of missing small cross-border transport infrastructure links has been raised byMichael Cramer, Member of the European Parliament and former Chair of the Committee ofTransport and Tourism, who launched an initiative mapping abandoned cross-border railwaysections, where the infrastructure has been dismantled or the freight/passengers services havebeen interrupted, and putting together a brochure 'Die Lücke muss weg’, containing a (shorter)selection of missing links. The Committee of the Regions also joined in this initiative andcommissioned a study (Metis1) analysing missing small transport links in border regions. Theaim was to show that, besides large-scale investment in corridors, considerable effect can beachieved with small projects. On top of that, the Directorate-General for Mobility andTransport of the European Commission (DG MOVE) performed a deeper assessment of thesuggested connections. The results of this work showed that a large number of suggested linksstill lack maturity, which is denoted by the absence of reliable cost- benefit analysis. Moreover,apart from traditional financing issues, there are many additional barriers that need to beconsidered: administrative, legal, political, technical and operational.

In autumn 2015, the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the EuropeanCommission (DG REGIO) launched an initiative under the title ‘Cross-border Review’,addressing obstacles to cross-border cooperation. The initiative is structured around 3 pillars:a study, a public consultation and several workshops with stakeholders. A CommissionCommunication proposing new policy developments and directions is expected to be adoptedby mid-2017. At the intergovernmental level, the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council ofthe EU dedicated special attention to the objectives of territorial cohesion and put emphasison the issues at stake in cross-border cooperation, and the need to overcome obstacles tocooperation programme. A proposal for a new legal tool emerged and a structured dialogue

1 J. Pucher, W. Schausberger, and J. Weiss, “The potential of closing the missing links of small scaleinfrastructure in Europe’s border regions for growth and employment: recommendations for the wayahead,” COR, 2016

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and exchange with the EU Institutions is ongoing. There is a convergence of evidenceprovided by the three pillars of the ‘Cross-border Review’: administrative and legal obstaclesare the most significant; the second issue is language and culture; the third is linked toaccessibility. Obstacles are often systemic (several categories of obstacles are mixed); the moreintegrated the border area is, the more obstacles become visible.

… but questions on whether there is a lack of resources or need for more efficiency remain…

Several border regions suffer from an inefficient use of available resources, rather than from alack of resources. Thus, to promote cohesion, border regions require intervention in thegovernance of resources, rather than new investment to increase such endowments. In thisregard, Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programmes can stimulate more intervention ongovernance to unlock competitiveness. The development of dedicated strategic transport andmobility plans for cross-border areas, anchored in the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans(SUMP) guidelines2 could be a valuable tool in that process. Numerous European Groupingson Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) emerged all over Europe, making use of EGTC structuresto plan and implement cross-border investments and services, enhancing the technologicalinfrastructure of cross-regional transport, especially when the investment plans require asubstantial budget or are not included as part of the TEN-T network.

Additionally, the cross-border context generates important externalities, which make cross-border investments less attractive and appropriate for mainstream financial instruments, aswell as not well-fitted for small-size projects that are not immediately bankable. Such complexprojects require specific expertise that goes beyond technical, legal and financing issues.

… showing a need for a rethinking of current EU investment in infrastructure and itsgovernance.

Meeting the huge infrastructure needs in the coming years, including for proper maintenanceand operation of infrastructure, is and will remain a major challenge for Europe. A wide rangeof financing options at EU level for transport infrastructure is currently available, includingthe European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), the European Fund for StrategicInvestment (EFSI), Horizon 2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) as well astraditional EIB financial instruments, to complement Member States’ funding resources. AnAction plan on making the best use of new financial schemes with twelve concreterecommendations grouped in four blocks for a successful outcome of financial instrumentswas published in 2015, on the initiative of TEN-T European Coordinators Secchi and Bodewigand the former European Commission vice President Christopherson.

The workshop discussion also aims at analysing the strategic potential of EGTC to strengthenlong-term investment in the field of transport from a technological and innovation point ofview, so as to reinforce links between cities, businesses and people on the two sides of theborder and facilitate the better planning of cross-border infrastructure facilities as well asservices. Together with the high-level policy view of the European Commission, as well as ofthe Committee of the Regions, examples of cross-border innovative services will be presentedand discussed.

2 http://www.eltis.org/mobility-plans

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4. Speakers’ biographies

4.1. Vice-President Bogusław Liberadzki, Member of European Parliament

Bogusław Liberadzki is a professor of economic sciences. He holdsthe Chair of Transportation at the Warsaw School of Economics inWarsaw and is also a professor in the Maritime Academy inSzczecin. He was a vice minister in the Ministry of Transportationand Maritime Economy 1989-1993 and the minister in 1993-1997.From 1997 he was an MP representing the Democratic Left Alliance.From 2003 he was a permanent observer in the EuropeanParliament and on 1 May 2003 he was appointed as an MEP. In 2008,Bogusław Liberadzki was elected Member of the Year in theEuropean Parliament for his activity and effectiveness in the field oftransport. In addition, he is a member of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine ParliamentaryAssociation Committee. In 2012 he was re-elected member of the Presidency of the Party ofEuropean Socialists. In the same year he was also elected Vice-President of the Democratic LeftAlliance. Awarded with the Gold and Silver Cross of Merit from the National EducationCommittee, he specialises in transport economics, transport policy and European transportsystems. He is the author and co-author of numerous national and foreign publications,research papers and books, such as ‘Conditions for the Development of Poland's TransportSystem’, ‘Liberalization and Deregulation of Transport in the European Union’, ‘Transport:demand, supply, balance’ and ‘Economic problems of transport operation in the USA andconclusions for the transport system of Poland’.

4.2. Claudia Schmidt, Member of the European Parliament

Claudia Schmidt studied Special Needs Education at theUniversity of Vienna and did a General Management Programmeat the University of Salzburg. She worked at Lebenshilfe Salzburgas Head of the Special Needs Education Department (1989-1996),she was responsible for the development and installation ofprogrammes to train disabled people to enable them to takeresponsibility for their own lives (1996-2000) and worked as Headof the Organisation and Administration Department (2000-2007).In 1995-1996, she was appointed expert for the HELIOS IIProgramme, the EU’s third action programme to assist disabledpeople. Claudia Schmidt was a member of the Salzburg municipal council from 1999 to 2004,head of the ÖVP bloc in the Salzburg municipal council from 2004 to 2009, and from 2009-2014a Councillor for building and construction in Salzburg. In 2014 Claudia Schmidt was electedto the European Parliament and is a member of the Parliament’s Transport and TourismCommittee, the Budgetary Control Committee and the Science Technology OptionsAssessment Panel as well as a substitute member of the Regional Development Committee.

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4.3. Daniela Carvalho, TIS

Daniela Carvalho coordinates the TIS Unit for economics andmanagement, and is an experienced consultant of the EuropeanCommission on topics related to transport infrastructure financing,transport innovation and European transport policies. Daniela’spresentation will focus on providing participants with an overviewof the key interim results of the study on ‘New ways of financingtransport infrastructure projects in Europe’, wich TIS is coordinatingfor STOA. Amongst other topics, Daniela will present a review ofthe current situation in terms of financing of cross-border transport

infrastructure in Europe, provide an update on technology and societal trends affectingtransport, identify areas where the current framework is not delivering appropriate supportor where it is hindering the deployment of new technologies for enhancing transportinfrastructure projects in cross-border regions, and present an outline of an assessment ofpossible policy options to intervene at European level.

4.4. Carlo Secchi, European Coordinator for Atlantic Corridor, EuropeanCommission, DG MOVE

Carlo Secchi is Professor Emeritus of European Economic Policy atBocconi University (Milan), where he was Rector in the period 2000-2004. Currently he is Vice-President of ISPI (the Institute forInternational Political Studies in Milan). He was a member of theEuropean Parliament (1994-1999), where he served as Vice-Presidentof the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. He was a memberof the Italian Senate (1994-1996). In July 2009 he was appointed by theEuropean Commission as European TEN-T Coordinator for Portugal,Spain and South France. Since 12 March 2014 he is EuropeanCoordinator for the Atlantic Corridor. He has been serving on theboard of companies, banks and institutions, as well as of scientific and

cultural foundations. His research areas and publications include: theory of international tradeand economic integration; international financial relations; European Union economy andpolicies. His presentation will focus on the development of new financial instruments forinfrastructural projects: project bonds, EFSI, the ‘lending call’. In parallel, he will focus on howto remove obstacles towards making the best use of new financial schemes: the CBS Reportand its on-going revision.

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4.5. Pavel Branda, Vice-Mayor of Rádlo Municipality and Member of the EuropeanCommitte of the Regions (CoR)

Pavel Branda is the Vice-Mayor of Rádlo Municipality and a Memberof the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). He is active in theCoR's Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget(COTER) which coordinates the CoR's work in the area of Economic,Social and Territorial Cohesion. Mr Branda is chairman of theinterregional group on cross-border cooperation of the CoR. He isalso the rapporteur for the CoR own-initiative opinion ‘People-to-people projects in cross-border cooperation programmes’, which iscurrently being drafted. The opinion shall provide a strong argumentfor sustaining this important aspect of cross-border cooperation and provide also the evidenceof such projects.

4.6. Dirk Peters, Team leader/Senior Specialist for European territorial cooperationand EGTC, DG REGIO

Being a lawyer by training, he has been working in the Commissionsince 1991 and in DG REGIO since 1994. In DG REGIO he has workedas desk officer on ‘mainstream’ and cooperation programmes for morethan 14 years (1991 to 1998 and 2000 to 2005). He also has experience asa policy officer, which came at the right place and the right time fordrafting the main part of the INTERREG III framework for the 2000-2006 programming period (June 1998 to December 1999). Afterwards,he joined the start-up team of the new INTERREG unit.

Since he joined the legal unit of DG REGIO in April 2005, he has workedin particular on cooperation in a broad sense (both inside the Union, INTERREG, and betweenMember States and third countries, PHARE-CBC, then IPA-CBC, TACIS-CBC, ENPI, then ENIand also around the outermost regions) and on the European Grouping of TerritorialCooperation (EGTC) in particular. On 1 March 2015 he was appointed Senior Expert inside thelegal unit of DG REGIO, focussing even more on issues of cooperation and EGTC.

4.7. Julien de Labaca, Transfermuga project – Eurorégion Aquitaine-Euskadi

Julian is a project manager at Eurorégion Aquitaine-Euskadi, beingresponsible for the Transfermuga project, an innovative cross-border mobility planner operational in the Acquitaine and PaísBasque border regions.

Mr de Labaca will participate in the debate and is expected to sharethe experience of bringing to life cross-border transport innovationprojects in Europe.

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4.8. Josè Maria Costa, Mayor of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, Eixo Atlântico

Jose Maria Costa is the Mayor of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, from 2009.(relected in 2013). He is the CIM (Community of Municipalities)’sPresident of ‘Alto Minho’ Inter-Municipal Community, since October2013 as well as executive Committee President of the NorthwesternPeninsular Atlantic Zone (from 2012 to 2015) and General BoardPresident of the Northwestern Peninsular Atlantic Zone since 2015.From 2013 to 2015, he was also RIET (Iberian Network of Cross-borderEntities) President – Cross-Border Entities Iberian Network and RIETGeneral Board President - Cross-Border Entities Iberian Network since2015. Mr Costa is a member of the Regions Committee, from 2013 (until2017), where he plays an important role as experts within the

Coordination of the Portuguese Delegation. Finally, he is the Executive Board President of theAtlantic Arc Cities Conference since 2016. In the workshop, he will present the mainachievement of Eixo Atlantico and the respective ongoing project.

4.9. Julianna Orbán Máté, EGTC Via Carpatia

Since 2013 she is a director of the Via Carpatia European Grouping ofTerritorial Cooperation (EGTC). In 2017 she became Head of RegionalDevelopment, Land-use Planning and Environment Department ofthe Košice Self-Governing Region. She graduated from the Faculty ofEconomics at the Technical University of Košice in 2008. She obtainedPhD degree on the Faculty of Economics at the Technical Universityof Košice in 2011. She is interested in territorial cooperation and localeconomic government. She is working on strengthening the crossborder cooperation between the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County andthe Košice Self-Governing Region, especially through the realisationof common projects and programmes of cross-border cooperation.

Her presentation will focus on the achievement of the Via Carpati EGTC, funded by the KošiceSelf-Governing Region and the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén to facilitate and supportcross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation.

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4.10. Krzysztof Żarna, CETC-EGTC

Born in 1977, graduate from the Faculty of Economy andManagement, University of Szczecin, since April 2014 Director,Central European Transport Corridor Limited Liability EuropeanGrouping of Territorial Co-operation (CETC-EGTC Ltd.). SinceJuly 2013, Director, Department of Territorial Co-operation,Marshal's Office of the West Pomerania Region. Between 2011 and2013 he was Deputy Director of the Department of RegionalDevelopment, Marshal’s Office of the West Pomerania Region andHead of the Technical Secretariat of CETC (CETC-CentralEuropean Transport Corridor). From 2008 until 2013 he was Head of the Technical Secretariatof CETC (CETC-Central European Transport Corridor).

In the workshop, he will present the objectives and the experience of the CETC EGCT, and itsambitious challenges, namely: 1) the intensification of cooperation in planning and executingprojects; 2) the creation of clear solutions and responsibilities within the structure,independent of political transformations; 3) faster and more flexible reaction to changingneeds and circumstances; 4) making the initiative more visible at the Community level.

4.11. Sonja van Renssen, journalist and moderator of the debate

Sonja van Renssen is a freelance energy, climate and environment journalist based in Brussels.She is the Brussels correspondent for Energy Post, and works for other outlets, such as NatureClimate Change, Platts and ENDS Europe. Sonja has an MSc in Science Communication fromImperial College London and an MA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford.

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5. About STOA

5.1. Mission

The Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Panel forms an integral part of thestructure of the European Parliament. Launched in 1987, STOA is tasked with identifying andindependently assessing the impact of new and emerging science and technologies.

The goal of its work is to assist, with independent information, the Members of the EuropeanParliament (MEPs) in developing options for long-term, strategic policy-making.

The STOA PanelThe STOA Panel consists of 25 MEPs nominated from the nine permanent parliamentarycommittees: AGRI (Agriculture & Rural Development), CULT (Culture & Education), EMPL(Employment & Social Affairs), ENVI (Environment, Public Health & Food Safety), IMCO(Internal Market & Consumer Protection), ITRE (Industry, Research & Energy), JURI (LegalAffairs), LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) and TRAN (Transport & Tourism).

Mr Ramón Luis VALCÁRCEL SISO MEP is the European Parliament Vice-Presidentresponsible for STOA for the second half of the 8th legislature. The STOA Chair for the secondhalf of the 8th legislature is Eva Kaili with Paul Rübig and Evžen Tošenovský acting as 1st and2nd Vice-Chairs respectively.

The STOA ApproachSTOA fulfils its mission primarily by carrying out science-based projects. Whilst undertakingthese projects, STOA assesses the widest possible range of options to support evidence-basedpolicy decisions. A typical project investigates the impacts of both existing and emergingtechnology options and presents these in the form of studies and options briefs. These arepublicly available for download via the STOA website: www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/. Someof STOA's projects explore the long-term impacts of future techno-scientific trends, with theaim to support MEPs in anticipating the consequences of developments in science. Alongsideits production of 'hard information', STOA communicates its findings to the EuropeanParliament by organising public events throughout the year. STOA also runs the MEP-ScientistPairing Scheme aimed at promoting mutual understanding and facilitating the establishmentof lasting links between the scientific and policy-making communities.

Focus areasSTOA activities and products are varied and are designed to cover as wide a range of scientificand technological topics as possible, such as nano-safety, e-Democracy, bio-engineering,assistive technologies for people with disabilities, waste management, cybersecurity, smartenergy grids, responsible research & innovation, sustainable agriculture and health.

They are grouped in five broad focus areas: eco-efficient transport and modern energysolutions; sustainable management of natural resources; potential and challenges of theInternet; health and life sciences; science policy, communication and global networking.

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5.2. Administration

Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (DG EPRS)European ParliamentRue Wiertz 60B-1047 BrusselsE-mail: stoa@europarl.europa.eu

Director-GeneralAnthony Teasdale

DirectorWolfgang Hiller

Head of Unit - Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA)Theo Karapiperis

Head of Service - STOA SecretariatZsolt G. Pataki

Head of Service - Scientific Foresight ServiceLieve Van Woensel

AdministratorsPhilip BoucherMihalis KritikosNera KuljanicChristian KurrerGianluca Quaglio

AssistantsSerge EvrardRachel ManirambonaMarie MassaroDamir Plese

TraineesAmr DawoodVictoria Joseph

PE 603.186

This is a publication of the STOA SecretariatDirectorate for Impact Assessment and European Added ValueDirectorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services, European Parliament