Positive sign from Brussels
Monday, January 31, 2011
As „undoubtedly a good idea,“ praised the EU Vice-President and Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas Koralmbahn and Koralmtunnel. “The resources are scare and the battle for money from other projects is upon us, “ said Kallas yesterday after a meeting with Governor Gerhard Dörfler in Brussels.
The Carinthian state leader, together with 12 representatives of the 19 regions located on the Baltic-Adriatic Axis corridor, promoted the inclusion of the high-capacity rail route from Gdansk to Bologna in the priority railway network in Europe. Thereby we could expect an acquisition of half of the planning costs and 20 per cent of the construction costs, said Dörfler. The route goes from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to Austria and Italy. An extension of the Baltic States is also being discussed.
The financing would come from EU funds for infrastructure for the period from 2014 to 2020. Therefore the axis has to be in the main European network. Transport Commissioner Kallas still needs more data on value added. The EU Commission will prepare a letter of intend in the end of June, which will be decided by the Council and Parliament. Dörfler was very confident after the meeting. “We come up with a project that would benefit whole Europe.”
