Position of the European Sea Ports Organisation on the Commission’s proposal on streamlining measures for TEN-T
01 October 2018
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the objectives of the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of the trans-European transport network COM(2018) 277.
In order to achieve a timely project implementation, European ports believe that there is a need to reduce unjustified administrative burden on permitting procedures to strike a balance between transport, societal, environmental and economic objectives.
In particular, ESPO welcomes the proposed integration of environmental permitting procedures and the ‘one-stop-shop’ for project promoters to facilitate the procedures.
On European level, the objective should be the full integration of state aid clearance into the TEN-T project approval, as separate procedures can cause unnecessary delays and can jeopardise the timely project implementation.
European ports believe that TEN-T projects which have been approved for co-funding from CEF should be exempted from state aid notification.
The proposal can be an important first step towards reducing administrative burden and to increase certainty for project promoters, but for further efficiency gains, the underlying legislation would need to equally be addressed.