Commissioner: Further Rail Baltic funding depends on talks
Further financing of the European-gauge Rail Baltic railway project beyond 2020 will depend on the negotiations of the EU's financial perspective in the next period, European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport Violeta Bulc said in Tallinn.
"Of course we will follow our models, especially for railways, and I hope that Rail Baltic will deliver dates and they will use all the opportunities they had at this financial period to full extent," Bulc told a news conference in Tallinn when asked whether the project could continue to expect 85 percent funding. "We are negotiating how the next [Multiannual Financial Framework] will look, and of course I'm sure the Baltic states will also very much be present at the table negotiating framework too."
According to the commissioner, it is currently important to focus on the current financial perspective and spend all of the money granted to the project.
In the current financial perspective, the European Commission has secured 85 percent funding for Rail Baltic, however Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fear whether this scheme will continue in the future in light of Brexit and the ongoing refugee crisis.
The EU has pledged to earmark €1.2 billion for the €5.8 billion project in the 2014-2020 period. An additional of €110 million in funding was granted to the project this past summer.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
