Connecting Europe Facility - Performance

Programme in a nutshell

Concrete examples of achievements (*)

^{(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Many come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.}

Budget for 2021-2027

Rationale and design of the programme

The Connecting Europe Facility programme is a key EU funding instrument for boosting investments across the EU in transport, energy and digital infrastructure projects aiming at greater connectivity between EU Member States.

Budget

Budget programming (million EUR):

^{(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.}

Financial programming:
+ EUR 1 431.0 million (+ 7%)
compared to the legal basis*

^{* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison. Contribution from the Cohesion Fund to the Connecting Europe Facility is excluded from financial programming in this comparison.}

• The implementation of the CEF Transport strand is mostly in line with the financial programming included above. Nevertheless, it is to be noted that the CEF Transport has contributed with EUR 250 million to the Chips Act Initiative launched by the Commission and also supported additional needs for administrative expenditure resulting from the initiatives tabled by the Commission in the framework of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, in particular Fuel EU Maritime and ReFuel EU Aviation.
• For CEF Energy, there is no variation in the financial programming.
• For CEF Digital, compared to the reference amounts in the legal base, EUR 150 million have been transferred to the Chips Act and EUR 110 million to the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) initiative (for the 2024-2027 period).

Budget performance – implementation

Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):

Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR)⁽¹⁾:

^{(1) Voted appropriations (C1) only.}

Contribution to horizontal priorities

Green budgeting

Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):

• The first set of the programme’s ‘Transport’ calls for proposals launched in September 2021 and the Commission selected projects amounting to more than EUR 5.4 billion. The projects mainly aimed at completing the railway and inland waterway infrastructure along the trans-European transport network and support the take-up of alternative fuels through the co-funding of charging infrastructure, hence contributing to the Green Deal agenda for the decarbonisation of the transport sector. As a result, appropriations committed to the co-funding of these projects correspond to around 75% of the overall Transport strand allocation. Considering the similar nature of the ongoing (2022 Transport call) and future calls, the same share of climate-related commitment appropriations is estimated for the years to come in the transport sector.
•  Moreover, the programme contributes to clean-air objectives through investments in sustainable transport infrastructure related to railways, inland waterways and maritime ports, through the contribution to the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure for all transport modes and through support to multimodal passenger hubs in urban areas. Overall, the Transport strand contributed to clean-air related projects with more than EUR 1.1 billion of commitment appropriations.
• The programme’s ‘Energy’ strand contributes to climate performance by supporting electricity, smart grid and carbon dioxide transport infrastructure and cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy, which account for a 100% climate-tracking coefficient. The programme’s Energy work programme for 2021-2027 is expected to contribute to the achievement of at least 60% of the overall financial envelope of the programme supporting climate objectives.
• Based on the climate-tracking contribution of the Energy strand under CEF I (the previous programme phase), the estimated contribution of CEF II (the current programme phase) until 2024 is at least 68% for the CEF projects of common interest budget and 100% for the new cross-border renewables window. It is important to note that the 68% is based on a cautious approach: under the last trans-European networks for energy projects of common interest call of the CEF I regulation (in 2020), the climate contribution was 84%. Under the first trans-European networks for energy projects of common interest call of CEF II (in 2021), the climate contribution was 92%. Similar shares are expected under future calls.
• Besides this, the Energy strand complies with the legislation on biodiversity objectives, as stated in recital 5 of the programme regulation.
• Because of their nature, the programme’s ‘Digital’ strand projects will contribute to the digitalisation of other infrastructures and services, reducing their carbon footprint and making them energy efficient.

Gender

Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):

<sup>(*) Based on the applied gender contribution methodology, the following scores are attributed at the most granular level of intervention possible:
- 2: interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender equality;
- 1: interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;
- 0: non-targeted interventions (interventions that are expected to have no significant bearing on gender equality);
- 0*: score to be assigned to interventions with a likely but not yet clear positive impact on gender equality.</sup>

• The programme has a 0* score for its contribution to gender equality.
• The programme, which supports basic infrastructural investments, does not have gender equality as a deliberate objective. For now, the impact of the fund with respect to gender equality has not been assessed. Also, at the present time and based on CEF I and CEF II-related regulations, the collection of gender-balance disaggregated data is not feasible for any of the three strands. In particular for the Transport strand, considering the setup of the programme’s Transport grant agreements and the types of actions funded (rail tracks, tunnels, bridges, etc.), it is not now possible to isolate the dedicated funding allocated to gender-related measures in the supported actions.
• However, as a horizontal objective, during the implementation of the programme, the Commission will constantly strive to ensure gender equality, for instance when selecting the experts that support the dedicated services during the evaluation of the call for proposals launched in the framework of the programme.
• In detail, it is possible to highlight some infrastructural investments supported by the programme that might have an effect on gender equality. One example is the ‘Safe and secure parking infrastructures for road’ supported under the Transport calls. It aims at ensuring road safety and secure parking slots for truck drivers along the trans-European transport network. When supporting these projects, the programme co-funding is linked to the respect of a pre-identified set of EU standards. In turn, these standards include interventions that might have gender-equality relevance, hence ensuring services that would address the safety concerns of truck drivers (e.g. dedicated resting facilities, lighting, surveillance) in a non-discriminatory manner. This notwithstanding, investments related to these elements cannot be disaggregated from the overall activities supported through the programme, addressing a more comprehensive spectrum aiming at ensuring the overall safe and secure parking infrastructure. Under the first Transport call (2021), an overall amount of almost EUR 60 million in programme co-funding has been awarded to ‘Safe and secure parking infrastructures for trucks’.
• In addition, specific investments supported within the programme strands might enhance awareness and support gender-related initiatives.
• As for the Digital strand, it will support only the deployment of physical connectivity infrastructures. However, the actual applications and services which will run on top of them, or the end-users benefiting from them, will ensure the digital inclusiveness of the targeted geographical areas and typologies of connected entities (households, schools, hospitals, etc.). Although the exact number of covered entities cannot be determined a priori, it can be assumed that state-of-the-art digital connectivity, along with the innovative applications enabled, will create new opportunities across genders, thus contributing to fill in the gender digital gap.

Digital

Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):

• The digital contribution of the programme has been calculated in 2021 based on the grants signed following the calls for proposals launched in 2021. It is foreseen that this contribution will remain stable in 2022.
• The support to the digitalisation of the transport sector is one of the main pillars of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy adopted by the Commission at the end of 2020 ⁽¹⁾. In this framework, the Transport strand aims at modernising the trans-European transport network with the deployment of the necessary digital infrastructure that will enable improved, safer, smarter and greener mobility for all transport modes. As a result of the first Transport calls for proposals for ‘Actions related to smart and interoperable mobility’ launched in September 2021, 31 actions with programme co-funding of more than EUR 500 million have been awarded. In particular, support has been provided to the digitalisation of the trans-European transport network railway network, through the support to the European Railway Traffic Management System technology.
• Through its specific support to the deployment of digital connectivity infrastructure, the Digital strand will contribute in its entirety to the digital transition policy goals, specifically to achieve the targets set in the digital decade policy programme in terms of digitalisation of businesses, public services and citizens. By supporting projects of common interest relating to the deployment of safe, secure, sustainable and very high-capacity digital networks, including 5G systems, the programme’s Digital actions contribute to the transformation and modernisation of vertical sectors such as health, education and training, tourism, manufacturing, transport or logistics
• Enhanced digital connectivity will contribute to the digital readiness and competitiveness of the EU’s businesses and the industrial and public services ecosystem. It will give all citizens and businesses new opportunities to benefit fully from the digital single market and accelerate economic recovery and growth.
• The Digital strand will contribute to the inclusiveness of outermost regions and oversea countries and territories by connecting them with up-to-date submarine backbones and ensuring that they can also benefit from advanced wireless and mobile connectivity (5G, WiFi).
• The Digital strand will also fund best practice projects that will promote the deployment and take-up of 5G systems to support services of general interest in local, rural communities, contributing to the digital and green transitions of public services and businesses in such domains as agriculture, healthcare, mobility and tourism.

^{(1) COM/2020/789 final- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – putting European transport on track for the future.}

Budget performance – outcomes

• The programme’s 2021-2027 legal basis was adopted on 7 July 2021, i.e. later than expected. Despite the preparatory work initiated by the programme’s parent DGs, the first multiannual work programmes could only be adopted in August 2021, and the 2021 calls for proposals (for the Transport and Energy strands) were only launched in September 2021.
• Considering the above, the first outcomes of the programme calls were materialised in 2022 with the signature of grant agreements for the three strands.
• For the Transport strand, only the results of the first calls for proposals launched in September 2021 (12 calls) can contribute to this report. These calls showcased the very high attractiveness of the programme’s Transport opportunities for project promoters, with oversubscription rates on some of the calls going up to 300% of the publicised call budget. Taking into consideration the new design of the programme, with dedicated amounts allocated to the completion of the trans-European transport network, Member States and infrastructure managers targeted their applications for the core network, which as per the trans-European transport network regulation shall be achieved by 2030.
• In this framework, many more projects than initially foreseen have been awarded to address cross-border and missing links along the trans-European transport network, following the list included in Annex III of the programme regulation, hence strongly contributing to the objectives of the trans-European transport network policy.
• At the same time, contrary to the original assumptions, less projects have been selected contributing to the modernisation of the trans-European transport network, in particular relating to the digitalisation of all transport modes (with the exception of the European Railway Traffic Management System for railways). This could be explained by the enhanced focus on the completion of the network more than on its modernisation, and by the absence of a fully-fledged air traffic management topic (only demonstrators), pending the adoption of the single European sky air traffic management research deployment, that took place only in August 2022.
• In addition, in the same period the programme demonstrated the capacity to contribute to the rapid Commission response to the unprovoked Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, anticipating the evaluation of the Military Mobility dedicated call for proposals and triggering the launch of the 2022 Military Mobility call before the summer of 2022. The call, closed during the third quarter of the year, already included the selection of relevant dual-use infrastructure projects supporting the connectivity of Ukraine and contributing to the ‘Solidarity Lanes’ Initiative promoted by the Commission in June 2022.
• As a result, considering the heavy oversubscription under the programme’s Transport general envelope and the increased pressure of the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine ⁽¹⁾, the Commission has decided to deploy all possible instruments to face this challenge, making use of the flexibility clause included in the programme’s Transport multiannual work programme 2021-2027 and starting the preparation for its amendment, in order to frontload through the programme’s 2023 Transport calls all the remaining available funds for the completion of the trans-European transport network under the general envelope and for the Military Mobility action plan.
• With reference to the progress achieved for the specific key performance indicators listed above, it is to be noted that for the indicators ‘Number of alternative fuel supply points built or upgraded with the support of the programme’ and ‘Number of transport infrastructure components adapted to civilian–military dual-use requirements’, the methodology developed by DG Mobility and Transport and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency aims at considering only projects' outputs as relevant data for the reporting exercise. For this reason, only closed actions (or actions expected to be closed) within the reference year will be considered. For 2022, only 64 alternative fuel infrastructure supply points are expected to be upgraded/built (actions' final report and assessment expected within 31 December 2022). As per current information, no specific challenge has been identified for their completion. On the contrary, none of the currently signed 57 Military Mobility actions have an end date within 2022. More detailed information will be presented in future reporting.
• For the energy sector, only the results of the first CEF II trans-European networks for energy projects of common interest call for proposals launched in September 2021 have been included in this programme statement. Considering the calendar of the trans-European networks for energy projects of common interest Energy calls in 2021 and 2022, it is not feasible to report their results in the call year, as the result of the awarded actions are published in the fourth quarter of the call year, while the signature of the related grant agreements cannot start until the first quarter of the following year.
• The programme’s Energy-funded actions significantly contribute to the decarbonisation of the EU energy market by strengthening cross-border connections, aiming to end energy isolation and eliminate bottlenecks, thereby decreasing dependence on fossil fuels. In particular, the 2022 programme call contributes to the EU aim of increasing the resilience of the EU-wide energy system in order to phase out our dependency on fossil fuels from Russia well before 2030, as foreseen in the repowerEU plan. Complementarities between the programme’s Energy strand and the Recovery and Resilience Facility will be exploited. In case a projects of common interest project promoter applies to the programme and the same project is also put forward (as an investment-type measure) under the new repowerEU chapter of a Member State’s recovery and resilience plan, a clear explanation should be provided on how the two funding sources are complementary, whether they apply to separate project components and how, in the absence of recovery and resilience plan funding, the project timeline would be impacted.
• The Energy strand also supports projects increasing security of supply in Member States where this issue is most pressing. Examples include the Aurora Line interconnection (between Finland and Sweden), or the additional support awarded to phase II of the Baltic synchronisation project that will increase the security of supply in the region. In addition, the Energy strand is a strong catalyst in bringing together project promoters, national regulatory authorities and government representatives to solve issues so that cross-border infrastructure projects can be realised. Its grants component is making the difference in promoting cooperation between countries to develop and implement energy interconnection projects of common interest that otherwise would not happen. This is especially the case for cross-border projects located in countries with smaller population sizes or in a more remote location, where energy tariffs would need to be increased substantially to cover the investment needs. The EuroAsia Interconnector for electricity between Greece and Cyprus and the Chiren underground gas storage site in Bulgaria are examples of projects that could not have been funded in a purely national context.
• The oversubscription rate for the programme’s Energy call both in 2021 and 2022 (166% and 375% over the initial budget respectively) is a sign of the Energy strand as a successful tool in implementing cross-border energy infrastructure projects in the EU. Nevertheless, the advance in awarding Energy co-funding to numerous actions of the projects of common interest and its contribution to policy objectives of the trans-European networks for energy regulation may not be fully reflected yet in the indicators and results, due to the long implementation time of the grants for works for large and technically complex energy infrastructure projects, and also due to the calendar shift between the awarded actions and the signature of the grant agreements, as mentioned above.
• Besides, the trans-European networks for energy regulation has been recently revised in line with the European Green Deal objectives, broadening its scope to new energy infrastructure categories, such as offshore grids and hydrogen infrastructure, which would be eligible under CEF II. Hence, as of 2024, the programme’s Energy actions would be focused on the projects included in the next projects of common interest list, the first being the revised trans-European networks for energy policy framework, which is expected to be adopted in November 2023.
• Two considerations have to be borne in mind.
  • The first 2 years of CEF II have led to a lower number of grant agreements with higher grants (e.g. works instead of studies) than what we saw in the first 2 years of CEF I.
  • The current economic environment, with important cost increases for material and components, means that CEF II may be able to finance fewer actions than initially expected.
• The first calls of the programme’s Digital strand were launched on 12 January 2022, less than a month after the adoption of the 2021-2025 work programme, and closed on 20 April 2022.
• A total of 38 grant agreements were successfully signed by 21 December 2022, well ahead of the time-to-grant deadline
• A second wave of six calls for proposals was launched in October 2022, with a deadline to submit proposals set to March 2023.
• One challenge for the first calls had been the state of readiness of some of the novel topics, such as large scale 5G corridors, or cloud interconnections, which requires additional time for preparation. One of the main reasons is that the Digital strand is a new programme with new constituencies and settings and new eligibility requirements (notably the security restrictions). On the other hand, demand exceeded the initial planning for topics such as global gateways / submarine cables, which allowed us to transfer budget between topics using the 20% flexibility given in the financing decision.
• To mitigate the risk of under-subscription, the stakeholders have been informed as early as possible, through targeted communication campaigns and/or informal contacts, about future funding opportunities for digital networks. Besides, giving the applicants reasonable time for preparing and submitting proposals (ideally 4 months from call launch to closure), especially considering that several potential applicants in the digital domains covered under the programme are not used to addressing some of the requirements of EU calls for proposals (ownership control, security requirements, etc.), would mitigate the challenges experienced and improve efficiency of the programme performance.
• On the other hand, the ‘Digital global gateways’ call attracted more proposals than expected, revealing a strong interest and demand of an established constituency, in a domain high in the political agenda and where the technology is very mature. Given the under-subscription of other calls, the selected projects could cover a very broad geographic area, including outermost regions and overseas countries and territories.

^{(1) It should be noted that the majority of actions relating to the ‘Solidarity Lanes’ initiative that are not supported under the Military Mobility calls have been presented under the general envelope, also considering the limited eligibility of the cohesion envelope not open for support in non-EU countries and outside the territory of cohesion countries.}

MFF 2014-2020 – CEF

The CEF is a key EU funding instrument to promote jobs, growth and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at the EU level. It supports the development of high-performance, sustainable and efficiently interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital services.

Budget implementation

Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):

Performance assessment

Transport:

• The more than 1 000 actions signed within the programme’s 2014-2020 Transport strand have been supported with an EU contribution of more than EUR 23 billion, triggering around EUR 50 billion of private and public investments. These have strongly contributed to paving the way for the achievement of the key trans-European transport network and wider EU policy objectives addressing the removal of bottlenecks and enhancing interoperability, ensuring sustainable and efficient transport systems and optimising the integration and interconnection of transport modes.
• In particular, the programme has been one of the front-running EU spending programmes supporting the sustainable and digital transitions. In line with the European Green Deal, transport investments for infrastructures strongly contributed to climate objectives, feeding the EU long-term decarbonisation commitments. Around 80% of the programme’s support has been allocated to the rail and inland waterways sectors and to the acceleration of the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, fostering a new mobility paradigm. As an example, in 2022 the project for the electrification of 40 kilometres of the railway section between Lohsa and Horka in Germany and 27 kilometres of railway line between Węgliniec and Zgorzelec in Poland was completed. Moreover, the installation of 20 hydrogen refuelling stations in Germany and Austria has contributed to the ramp-up of this technology for the road transport sector, adding to the climate-related objectives of the programme and also contributing to the clean-air objectives in densely-populated urban areas.
• Furthermore, data and digital infrastructure have received targeted support, enhancing the deployment of digital solutions for all transport modes and backing the ecological transition for all sectors, including for transport. As an example, in 2022, a dedicated action on the retrofitting of 106 units has contributed to more efficient traffic management under improved safety and interoperability conditions on the entire Belgian railway network and on the Liège-Maastricht and Antwerp-Roosendaal cross-border sections.
• Nevertheless, the implementation of the programme’s 2014-2020 actions has also been directly impacted by the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine. In particular, as fallout of the war context, some programme beneficiaries have reported delays linked to increased energy costs, lack or increased prices of raw materials for construction, impacts of inflation and lack of workforce in some of the EU Member States bordering Ukraine. While no specific issue at the strand level could be generalised, the Commission services and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency are closely monitoring the implementation of all actions and will take informed decisions on possible mitigating measures on a case-by-case basis. In particular, similarly to the actions taken in the aftermath of the pandemic crisis, the Commission might decide to review the duration of some actions, allowing for additional time for their finalisation.
• Taking into consideration the above information and recalling that there is a time lag of approximately 1.5 years between the actual completion of a project and the registration of results, corresponding to the time required to close the projects, it can be concluded that there was overall moderate progress of the implementation of the 2014-2020 programme in the last 12 months.
• As per the current situation, the expected maximum duration of the programme’s Transport actions should not go beyond the end of 2024. Their results (outputs triggering performance data) can be achieved by the of 2024 and related information for financial closure can be received until mid-2026. In this framework it is considered that the potential for the achievement of the indicated targets is still there.

Energy:

• During the 2014-2020 period, Energy co-funding of a total of EUR 4.672 billion was allocated to 149 actions contributing to 107 projects of common interest. By the end of 2022, 107 actions that received programme support were completed in total, i.e. 53 on electricity and storage, 50 on gas, two on smart grids and two on carbon dioxide networks.
• Under CEF I, 77% of the actions were studies, accounting for 10% of the total commitments under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, as preparatory studies are normally much less budget-intensive than project construction. This means that the largest share of CEF I funding goes to works (90%), representing 23% of the total actions. Compared to CEF I, the proportion of studies versus works is expected to shift for the first calls under CEF II, as a number of key infrastructure projects that had received CEF support for studies under the previous (2014-2020) multiannual financial framework have become mature for support for construction at the onset of the current multiannual financial framework. This means that under the first call of CEF II, 20% of the actions have been studies and 80% have been works, with the latter absorbing 99.5% of the available commitments.

• In general, the Energy core performance indicators for 2014-2020 reflect different angles of the achievements of the EU energy policy, such as the end of Member States’ isolation, the interconnection target levels, the increase of system resilience and the diversification of gas supply sources, which are of the utmost relevance in minimising the effect of the unprovoked Russian aggression to Ukraine on the energy markets.
• The positive impact of the Energy strand can probably only really be evaluated in the long term, considering the lengthy implementation periods of large-scale energy infrastructure projects. In 2022, no progress was registered in terms of commissioned projects reducing Member States’ energy isolation (six projects of common interest to target) and system resilience (two Member States to target), while one more Member State has reached the percentage of electricity cross-border transmission power relating to the installed electricity generation capacity expected by the EU policy (17 Member States complying with the 15% interconnection target). Significant progress has been achieved in terms of projects allowing the diversification of supply sources, as four additional projects of common interest supporting EU’s security of supply have been completed in 2022, setting the level of pending projects of common interest to be commissioned under this particular indicator from 12 to 8.
• The success of the numerous actions of the projects of common interest and their contribution to the policy objectives of the trans-European networks for energy strategy is not yet fully reflected in the indicators, due to the long implementation time of the grants for large and technically complex energy infrastructure projects. In addition, delays have occurred because of external factors such as the COVID-19 sanitary crisis, the need to secure sufficient co-funding (national or other sources), public procurement issues (e.g. complaints/appeals during tender procedures) and legal and environmental issues (e.g. permitting, spatial planning, other authorisations and land acquisition). The revised trans-European transport network regulation, the policy framework for the infrastructure projects of common interest that are eligible for the Energy strand which entered into force in June 2022, includes strengthened planning and permitting provisions to address project implementation issues.

• Nevertheless, the programme’s Energy-funded actions have significantly contributed to the integration of the EU energy market through the strengthening of cross-border connections aiming to end energy isolation and eliminate bottlenecks. The Energy strand also supports projects that increase security of supply in Member States where this issue is most pressing.

Telecom:

• To date, the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund has invested in ten companies across Europe and raised the targeted funds from private investors to EUR 555 million by June 2021.
• Regarding WiFi4EU for the 2018-2020 period, more than 8 800 vouchers were awarded through the programme. Despite the pandemic, the network installations steadily increased and exceeded expectations by reaching more than 9 080 in the last quarter of 2022.

Contribution to the sustainable development goals