Open letter to Member States and EU
Brussels, February 25, 2026. The European Skippers’ Organisation together with 44 European transportorganisations are joining forces and collectively urge national governments to strengthen European funding for transport under the future EU budget.
Particularly the budget of the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) should be increased to at least €100 billion.
A robust European transport network is of crucial importance in responding to Europe’s strategic objectives. Only with strong and state-of-the-art transport infrastructure at its core, will Europe be able to ramp up its resilience and military preparedness, reinforce its industrial competitiveness and safeguard its supply chain sovereignty. The sector stands ready to deliver, but cannot do so without adequate support.
Reverse underfunding
While the ambitions and the investment needs are high, the sector continues to struggle with pressing underfunding and financing gaps. This trend of continued underfunding of the transport sector must be reversed, EU Member States must set the bar high.
Safeguarding sufficient EU transport budget
As such, if Europe is to succeed in its strategic priorities of a strong, resilient and competitive Union, it needs a robust European transport network providing the necessary fundament. This must be reflected in the future EU budget. With another round of discussions on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034 coming up during the General Affairs Council taking place on 24 February, all the signatory European transport organisations ask in an open letter the General Affairs and Finance Ministers to safeguard sufficient EU budget for transport under the future MFF and particularly strengthen the future CEF instrument. European support to the sector is now more pertinent than ever.
Gerard Kester, secretary general.
The open letter to the EU Member States, with the full list of signatories, can be read here.