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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The EU programme Marco Polo II will finance projects for efficiency of freight transport and environmental impact reduction

European carriers will now find it easier to access funding for projects that will boost the efficiency of freight transport and reduce its environmental impact. This is thanks to a deal on a new version of the Marco Polo II programme reached by the EU institutions, which has been brokered by the Czech EU Presidency.In the past weeks, the Presidency has negotiated a compromise on the amended programme with the Member States and the European Parliament. The MEPs plan to confirm the agreement on 23 April in a plenary vote, and it should then be given the final seal of approval by the Member States at one of the following Council meetings.
Marco Polo is a funding programme for projects that shift part of the volume of international freight transport from the road to rail, inland waterways and short sea shipping. “Thanks to this deal, the whole scheme will become more efficient, which will benefit companies and citizens alike”, said Deputy Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU Jana Reinišová, who headed the team that reached the compromise. “The objective of this programme is to help decrease the number of trucks on the roads and thus reduce traffic congestion as well as the negative impact of road traffic on people’s health and the environment, and also improve road safety,” Reinišová said.

Under the Marco Polo II programme, funding is available for short-term freight transport projects in five areas :

- Modal shift, i.e. a shift from the road to rail, short sea shipping and inland waterways;
- Catalyst actions directed at innovative aspects and aimed to overcome structural barriers in the market;
- Common learning actions aimed to widen the innovation know-how;
- Development of “motorways of the sea”, i.e. projects of short sea shipping;
- Reducing road freight transport, particularly by improving transport chains and introducing other innovative measures, in order to cut road transport by at least 10 %.

The deal brokered by the Czech Presidency will affect the second stage of the Marco Polo programme with a budget of EUR 450 million to be spent between 2007 and 2013. Although this stage was launched over two years ago, no more than 73% of funds allocated for specific time periods has so far been used. This is mainly due to the lengthy, non-transparent and costly administrative procedures involved when applications are processed.
This is now going to change. The agreement brokered by the Czech Presidency will extend the cap on the duration of projects, double the financial support (from 1 to 2 EUR per 500 tonne-kms), and also reduce the thresholds for funding projects aimed at shifting one type of transport to another, which is all the more important at the time of the economic downturn. Moreover, the administrative procedure imposed on applicants will be easier and quicker. The time from the submission of the application to the payment of funds will thus be shortened by more than three months (from about 460 to 360 days). These changes will already affect applications filed in 2009, and will take better account of the conditions of potential applicants from EU’s land-locked Member States.

Source  EU Czech presidency website

More information  EU Czech presidency website

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