CEF support to North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor - May 2020
CEF support to North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor - April 2018
CEF Transport projects by country
Overview
The North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor stretches from the Scottish capital Edinburgh in the north, to the French ports of Marseille and Fos-sur-Mer in the south; passing through Ireland, England, the Low Countries and the French capital, before skirting the French/German boarder en-route south. When complete, the corridor will offer enhanced multimodal links between North Sea ports, major European rivers basins (the Maas, Rhine, Scheldt, Seine, Saone and Rhone) and the southern French ports of Fos-sur-Mer and Marseille. It will also improve links between the British Isles and Continental Europe. The corridor incorporates Priority Projects 2, 13, 14, 26, 28 and 30.
Main bottlenecks and missing links
On the ‘continental side’, inland waterways represent the biggest challenge, with missing links and bottlenecks identified between the Seine and the Scheldt, and between the Rhine and the Rhone. Of these, the Canal Seine-Escaut is the most high profile project under development. In addition to inland waterways, the cross-border, Brussels-Luxembourg-Lyon rail connections need to be upgraded to be able to compete with road transport. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, rail connections present the most significant challenge; in particular the Belfast-Dublin and the Dublin-Cork connections and the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) project.
Success Stories
In 2010, Europe’s first cross-border, high-speed passenger rail link (Priority Project 2) entered into operation. The London-Paris-Brussels-Köln-Amsterdam link includes major cross-border initiatives, such as the Channel Tunnel, and has fostered major changes in traffic flows between these economic centers. The period since the completion of the link has seen an important growth in traffic, combined with a strong modal shift from air and road transport to rail - due in large part to significant reductions in travel times and the added convenience offered by increases in the number of services offered. Eurostar now attracts more than 60 % of traffic between London and Paris. The high-speed Rhine-Rhone project incorporates three branches (east, west, south) that will connect the high-speed network around Lyon to high-speed networks in eastern France, Switzerland and Germany. The first phase of the new eastern branch, Dijon-Mulhouse (190 km), was opened on 11 December 2011. This significantly cut travel times between Strasbourg and Lyon from 3 hrs 40 mins to 4 hrs 45 mins and has reduced journey times between Frankfurt and Lyon by 1 hr 15 mins.
CEF: Pre-identified projects
European Coordinator for the TEN-T North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor, Mr Péter Balázs
Mr Péter Balázs was born on 5 December 1941, in Kecskemét, Hungary. Mr Balázs was appointed European Coordinator for the TEN-T North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor on 12 March 2014. Mr Balázs has previously been European Coordinator for the TEN-T Priority Project 17 (Paris-Bratislava) for the period July 2005 to April 2009 and again from 8 June 2010 to 31 December 2013.
Previous assignments
2009-2010: Minister for Foreign Affairs in Hungary
2005-2009: Central European University, Budapest: Professor
2004: Member of the European Commission, responsible for regional policy
2003-2004: Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union: Ambassador (Coreper II)
2002-2003: Ministry of Foreign Affairs: State Secretary for Integration and External Economic Relations. Hungarian Government Representative in the European Convention
2000-2002: Budapest University of Economics and Public Administration: Professor
1997-2000: Hungarian Embassy: Ambassador in Bonn and Berlin
1994-1996: Hungarian Embassy: Ambassador in Copenhagen
1992-1993: Ministry of Industry and Trade: Permanent State Secretary supervising the sectors of industry, energy, building industry, trade and tourism
1988-1992: Ministry of International Economic Relations: Director General for multilateral relations
1987-1988: Prime Minister’s Office: responsible for international economic organisations
1982-1987: Hungarian Embassy, Brussels: Counselor in charge of the EC
1969-1982: Ministry of Foreign Trade: Desk Officer, Director
1963-1968: "Elektroimpex" Hungarian Foreign Trading Co.: Economist
Current tasks
Professor in the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Central European University, Budapest (since 2010)
Mr Péter Balázs, European Coordinator
To contact Mr Balázs, please use the advisor email below
Mr Arūnas Jurevicius, Adviser of the European Coordinator
Arunas.JUREVICIUS@ec.europa.eu
+32 229-59099
Postal address:
North Sea-Mediterranean CNC / TEN-T
Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
Rue de Mot 28
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Maps
North Sea-Mediterranean Compliance map
Workplans
1st North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor work plan
2nd North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor work plan
3rd North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor work plan
4th North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor work plan
5th North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor work plan
Studies
North Sea-Mediterranean Core Network Corridor Study (2014)
North Sea-Mediterranean Core Network Corridor Study Annexes (2014)