EP publishes study on the most valuable transport investments for the 2028-2034 MFF
A new study conducted by the European Parliament evaluates the cost-effectiveness of EU transport investments proposed for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
The study, titled 'Investing in Transport in the New MFF,' aims to provide the TRAN committee of the European Parliament with a thorough, evidence-based assessment of potential transport investment opportunities within the MFF proposal for the 2028-2034 period. POLIS has contributed to the preparation of this study.
Assessing and strengthening transport investment opportunities
The document provides a comprehensive overview of transport-related measures across relevant MFF instruments, analysing their performance and value for money. It contains recommendations for EU legislators on how best to safeguard EU-level transport objectives, optimise the use of funding, and support the TRAN Committee's position in the MFF negotiations.
The 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework will be the first EU budgetary cycle implemented under the revised Trans‑European Transport Network (TEN‑T) Regulation. Transport investment must focus on accelerating decarbonisation, promoting territorial cohesion, and strengthening security, due to the unstable geopolitical context.
In the current budget cycle (2021-2027), the mix of instruments, such as CEF‑Transport, Cohesion Policy funds, InvestEU, and European Investment Bank (EIB) lending, complemented by NextGenerationEU, has mobilised substantial investment, but the results vary widely across Member States and corridors. Constrained public budgets and connectivity gaps, particularly in cross-border and rural regions, negative impact on implementation performance. Evidence shows that EU support has been more effective at attracting additional investment and accelerating project delivery in cases where robust project pipelines and clear corridor strategies already existed.
For the 2028-2034 period, the Commission proposes a strengthened CEF-Transport and more transport-relevant opportunities under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), as well as redesigned Cohesion instruments under the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs). These have the potential of enhancing European added value, but they first need a clear functional division of labour, stronger coordination between research, innovation, and deployment, and more systematic performance frameworks.
EU-level intervention is particularly needed in the following areas:
- completing and upgrading critical TEN-T cross-border connections and missing links across rail, inland waterways, maritime routes, and multimodal terminals;
- large-scale deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure and digital systems, such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and advanced traffic management;
- projects that combine civilian connectivity goals with military mobility and critical infrastructure protection, where benefits extend well beyond individual national networks.
In these areas, well-structured EU grants, often combined with financial instruments, can unlock national and private co-financing and generate spill-over effects beyond individual Member States, especially when integrated into coherent corridor investment plans.
The study also identifies structural risks, including the potential dilution of transport-specific priorities within broader funding envelopes, where internal allocations remain indicative. There are also administrative capacity constraints in certain Member States that may hinder timely absorption and compliance with TEN-T, climate, state aid, and security requirements.
The study contains several recommendations on which investments to prioritise governance, flexibility, and performance:
- CEF‑Transport should focuses on a limited portfolio of high cross‑border and dual‑use projects
- strengthening conditionalities and target technical assistance in Cohesion Policy and NRPPs
- establishing an innovation‑to‑deployment pipeline between research and investment instruments
- reinforcing governance, transparency and security mainstreaming in EU transport investment.
Read the full study here.
