Characteristics of the NSMED Corridor
Alignment The North Sea - Mediterranean (NSMED) Core Network Corridor stretches from Dublin, Limerick and Cork in the north-west to Lille, Paris and Strasbourg in the centre, Marseille in the south, and extends north-east to Benelux towards Amsterdam via Luxembourg and Brussels.
It covers five countries, namely Belgium, Ireland, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It includes some of the most significant economic and production centres in Europe, as well as key European ports (Northern Range ports, Marseille, Irish ports). It reaches the German and the Swiss borders, connecting to the Rhine Alpine Corridor with onward links through the Alpine region to Italy. It also connects to the Mediterranean, Atlantic, North Sea – Baltic and Rhine - Danube Corridors opening up to wide European regions.
It consists of 5,452 km of railways, 3,233 km of roads and 4,019 km of inland waterways.
(* Until the 31st of January 2020 the United Kingdom was part of the North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor)
Regulation (EU) 2021/1153, establishing the Connecting Europe Facility for the period 2021 – 2027, adapted the alignment of the Corridor. The modification consists of:
- the extension of the Corridor in Ireland westwards to connect the Port of Shannon Foynes;
- the addition in France of the connection from Paris to Le Havre via Rouen following the Seine River;
- the addition of maritime links between the three Irish core ports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon Foynes, and core ports in the range from Le Havre to Amsterdam (Le Havre, Calais, Dunkerque, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Ghent, and Terneuzen (North Sea Port), Rotterdam and Amsterdam).
This new alignment reflects the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU and reinforces the connectivity of Ireland with the continent - putting emphasis upon direct maritime connections to important ports of the Northern range, therefore offering connectivity to the rest of the EU, as well access to global maritime connections. While the ports of Le Havre and Rouen are added to the Corridor, the River Seine, which is part of the Seine - Scheldt project, is now included in its entirety in the Corridor. This section in France is shared with the Atlantic Corridor. The addition of Shannon Foynes also means that all core ports in Ireland are now included.
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)