The Financing of Trans-European Networks

Abstract

Over the last two decades there has been a persistent decline in the level of investment in infrastructure by the respective public sectors of the EU; from 1.5 per cent of GDP in the 1970s to around 0.9 per cent (1994). In the fifteen years up to 1994, expenditure upon infrastructure has averaged around ECU 65 billion per annum¹ which, though substantial, is insufficient to meet the innovative features demanded of infrastructure in the coming decades. It is anticipated that the level of investment in infrastructure will need to be doubled over the next 15 years due to:²

• increasing demand

• environmental pressure

• congestion

• technological advance

The TENs initiative is a high profile programme for the EU but its success, in practice, relies upon the capability of the projects associated with it to attract the funding needed. Without this finance, TENs as a policy for economic development amounts to very little. Such issues are compounded by the need to develop TENs in an era in which the traditional provider of finance, the state, is seeking to reduce its involvement in the economy and where the other potential major contributor, the private sector, lacks the experience of investment in projects of this nature.