Regions and cities across the EU have called for a stronger role in shaping the next Connecting Europe Facility — the EU funding programme for transport and energy links — arguing that infrastructure spending should better match local needs.
The recommendations were adopted at a plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 6 May, alongside calls for any increase in military mobility spending to deliver benefits for civilians and regional connectivity, the Committee said.
The CoR stated it welcomed plans to continue the Connecting Europe Facility beyond 2027 and raise its budget to €81 billion for 2028–2034, citing the need to complete the EU’s trans-European transport (TEN-T) and energy (TEN-E) networks.
Current investment needs for European transport infrastructure exceed available funding.
Local and regional authorities should be involved throughout the programme cycle — from planning and project selection to implementation and evaluation — because most TEN-T and TEN-E projects are delivered at territorial level, the organisation said.
The CoR also asked for observer status in Connecting Europe Facility committees, saying local bodies handle permitting, planning and infrastructure co-ordination that affect delivery.
Calls for fairer criteria and civilian benefits from ‘dual-use’ projects
Award criteria should better reflect territorial factors such as remoteness, sparse populations and access constraints, to ensure geographically constrained regions can participate fairly, the CoR said.
Members backed cross-border projects, but said projects fixing “missing links” within a single country should also count as having European added value.
The CoR said it regretted that “urban nodes” were not included as a dedicated objective, arguing that bottlenecks in metropolitan areas can disrupt TEN-T corridors.
On military mobility, the CoR backed a greater focus on projects that can serve both defence and civilian purposes, but said dual-use investments in assets such as ports, airports, roads and bridges should deliver clear civilian co-benefits, remain territorially balanced, and not divert resources from cohesion objectives.
The European Commission adopted its proposal for a regulation establishing the Connecting Europe Facility for 2028–2034 on 16 July 2025, alongside a related proposal on military mobility.
