Europese Commissie pompt 62 miljard euro in infrastructuur en energie (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission today (11 November) announced a cash injection of 62bn euro in various infrastructure projects in an effort to stimulate the flagging European economy.

The money will be invested in energy, research, telecoms and transport projects.

European Commission President Romano Prodi, unveiling the scheme, said, "it is the catalyst the EU urgently needs to promote growth". Priority will be given to projects that can start immediately.

60 percent of the funding for the projects will be provided by the public sector and 40 percent by private investment. The European Investment Bank (EIB) will also provide loans to finance the projects.

Overall, EU investment will amount to €10bn a year, which amounts to 0.05 percent of the EU's GDP. Mr Prodi described this as a "modest and feasible" approach.

The Commission proposal now includes 56 projects: 31 in transport, 17 in energy

and 8 in high-speed communications networks, Research and Development and innovation.

In an attempt to reduce the number of projects and get some started quickly, the Commission tried to whittle down the list.

A smaller list of 13 projects, revealed by the EUobserver and other media, was changed after interventions from Member States, including Spain, Portugal, Poland and the Baltic countries, which wrote letters to promote projects in their own countries.

Philippe Busquin, the Research Commissioner, said that it was the first time there had been a debate at the European level on infrastructure.

But several individual projects remain high on the priority list, such as the Liege-Cologne rail link and the link between Figueras in Spain and Perpignan in France.

The Commission proposals will now be discussed by EU finance ministers in a Council meeting later this month and then by EU leaders in December.