Opinion on the General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2027 – all sections

03.8.2026

Mr Johan Van Overtveldt

Chair

Committee on Budgets

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2027 – all sections 2026/0196(BUD)

Dear Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Transport and Tourism has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 2 December 2025, TRAN Coordinators decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter, which TRAN adopted at its meeting of 15 July 2026.

Entering the final year of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the committee underscores once again that the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport (CEF-T) is indispensable to advancing strategic, sustainable and high-quality TEN-T infrastructure across the Union.

The committee recalls that the entire CEF budget was already committed under the 2024 call – the last regular call – once again demonstrating the programme’s success but also signalling that major projects will only be able to secure new funding under the next MFF, when fresh resources become available.

In this context, the committee draws attention to the CEF-T multiannual work programme 2021-2027, which provides for a single reflow call launched in June 2026. The committee stresses that the 2026 call, with around EUR 1.11 billion available, covers a broad set of priorities, with objectives and funding levels calibrated to strategic needs despite the tight budgetary margins. Indeed, over and above the outstanding needs arising from the binding completion deadlines for the Trans-European core, extended core and comprehensive networks, a diverse range of further priorities is introduced through recently adopted strategic documents, including the High-Speed Rail Communication, the Automotive Action Plan, the EU industrial maritime strategy, the EU ports strategy, the Industrial Accelerator Act and others. The committee stresses that these new priorities should complement and strengthen the CEF’s core objectives of improving safe, sustainable and interoperable transport infrastructure with high European added value, while ensuring balanced territorial development across the Union. Due recognition must also be given to national sections with cross-border relevance, as they are indispensable for ensuring the proper and reliable performance of the network.

Furthermore, in today’s geopolitical environment, the committee highlights transport as a strategic pillar of Europe’s defence. It underscores the priorities under the Military Mobility Package, reiterating that military mobility depends entirely on civilian infrastructure and operator responsiveness in emergencies, including a skilled workforce, and stressing that the 2026 call will also fund dual-use works and studies along the four EU military mobility priority corridors, reflecting the specific infrastructure requirements applicable to dual-use infrastructure.

The committee underlines the need to maintain strong backing for the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, recalling that they have already enabled EUR 282 billion in shared trade and remain the essential conduit for industrial commodities, despite the gradual return of Black Sea shipping. It observes that performance on the Solidarity Lanes in the first half of 2026 remained broadly steady, with the corridor consistently carrying most of Ukraine’s imports and roughly half of its non-agricultural exports. The committee also notes that the Solidarity Lanes have received support from several EU funding instruments, including Cohesion Policy and CEF-T, with investments across the network – especially in the eastern border regions – to strengthen dual-use infrastructure and increase the capacity of border crossings and ports. These efforts demonstrate the strategic value of transport investment in reinforcing the security, resilience and connectivity of the European Union as a whole.

Consequently, with 2027 representing the final round of project selections under the present MFF, the committee stresses that the programme’s proven effectiveness makes strengthening the 2027 CEF budget both necessary and justified. Therefore, it calls for a coherent EU funding strategy and urges the Commission to allocate the resources required to meet TEN-T deadlines and objectives, while integrating new priority strategies and projects in line with CEF eligibility rules. Simultaneously, it invites the European Investment Bank (EIB) to intensify its support for the newly established strategic orientations and encourages Member States to fully deploy cohesion funds for transport and military mobility projects within their programmes.

Against this background – and ahead of the imminent negotiations on the next MFF – the committee is clear in stating that this pivotal bridging year must set the course for a reinforced and more ambitious CEF III. In this respect, the committee underscores that the Council negotiation box indicates a reduction of the CEF budget for both transport and military mobility, and – considering the heightened geopolitical pressures that make a strong budget in these fields indispensable – firmly opposes such cuts. By contrast, the committee recalls that European Parliament’s interim report on the 2028-2034 MFF, recognising the scale of the needs, called for an increase of approximately 12.7 % to the CEF budget. It further recalls that the absence of strategic foresight regarding dual use infrastructure once led to a 75 % cut in the military mobility envelope during the MFF 2021-2027 negotiations, which resulted in the budget being frontloaded and entirely consumed at the start of 2024, and insists that such a situation must not occur again.

The committee welcomes the higher 2027 allocations to the three transport agencies yet warns that their expanding mandates will require significantly greater resources to sustain core safety, sustainability, interoperability and modernisation objectives.

The committee reiterates that the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) is expected to face a substantial increase in workload due to its broadened responsibilities under the Rail Infrastructure Capacity Regulation, now in force, the Military Mobility Package and other new legislation, including the Common Safety Methods on Assessment of Safety Level and Safety Performance, and the forthcoming revision of the ERA Regulation. It acknowledges the additional funding foreseen for the Agency in the Regulation on establishing a framework of measures to facilitate the transport of military equipment, goods and personnel across the Union and the Rail Infrastructure Capacity Regulation. In addition, it welcomes the increase in the Agency’s staffing levels, aligned with the current and expected growth in its certification workload.

The committee welcomes the proposal to reinforce the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) with 29 establishment-plan posts to handle sharply increased workload in the certification of Air Traffic Management / Air Navigation Services equipment and Design or Production Organisations approval, where application volumes far surpass the levels anticipated when the revised Basic Regulation was concluded in 2018. However, the committee notes that EASA has faced an accumulating EU-contribution deficit in recent years, resulting from growing workload, high inflation, digitalisation demands and the imbalance between mandate extensions and available resources. In this regard, the committee takes note of the proposed EUR 2 million increase for EASA’s regulatory work, crucial to Europe’s aviation competitiveness, and particularly for European start-ups and SMEs operating in innovative sectors such as unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility, yet first underlines that it remains insufficient, and, secondly, regrets that, despite its earlier warnings, the increase has been drawn from CEF-T.

The committee expresses disappointment that the adjustment of the staffing level of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is limited to a single post, a thoroughly insufficient adjustment considering the Agency’s role amid the current geopolitical challenges, and the renewed interest and priority on the maritime sector as reflected through the Ports and Industrial maritime strategies.

The committee highlights the strategic necessity of a climate-resilient TEN-T network and of proactive preparedness planning to safeguard the EU’s long-term competitiveness, cohesion and connectivity. Recognising the contribution of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) in supporting smart, sustainable and resilient mobility and the need to ensure adequate resources, the committee welcomes the proposal to increase its staffing levels in 2027 compared with 2026.

The committee takes positive note of the substantial boost in the EU’s financial contribution to the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking but observes that SESAR 3 gains only marginally and that Europe’s Rail faces a cut to around two-thirds of its previous budget. It underlines that strong, forward-looking investment in all three joint undertakings is vital, given their ability to leverage valuable additional resources and drive the EU’s green and digital transitions and competitiveness. In line with this approach, the committee urges safeguarding the three transport JUs in the next Horizon Programme. Moreover, the committee reiterates its call for a comprehensive strategy on Hyperloop, with clear timelines, detailed investment frameworks and support for research, development and deployment, building on the experience of recent developments of cutting-edge hyperloop initiatives facing strong financial and operational difficulties.

Mindful that transport and tourism are among the sectors most exposed to the EU’s economic transformation, the committee takes note of the Commission’s ongoing assessment of working conditions in transport and calls for the appropriate measures to address the challenges that may surface. Accordingly, it considers it essential that, during the final year of the current MFF, the Social Climate Fund and the Just Transition Fund serve as pillars of a fair transition, placing reskilling and upskilling measures for the workforce at the forefront. In addition, the Committee takes note of the decision of the Commission to explore, together with the EIB, the new EU Emissions Trading System 2 (ETS2) Frontloading Facility for Member States. This facility would prefinance measures to address transport poverty, improve affordability for vulnerable transport users and households and accelerate the uptake of clean mobility technologies, thus supporting the implementation of the Social Climate Fund.

Lastly, the committee firmly underscores tourism’s key and strategic role in the Union’s economy. Accordingly, it urges an ambitious delivery of the forthcoming EU sustainable tourism strategy, prioritising improved infrastructure for smart, sustainable, safe and resilient transport; smoother cross-border mobility; a more balanced spread of tourism across Europe; stronger destination management; building destination resilience to support effective climate adaptation; and support for growth, quality employment and local economic opportunities while protecting community well-being. The committee recalls that these priorities reflect those set out in its recently adopted own initiative report ‘Enhancing connectivity, preserving (in)tangible cultural heritage and driving local excellence in European tourism – destination management and regional tourism growth’.

In a similar spirit, the committee observes the renewed political momentum for islands and coastal communities, as evidenced by the Commission’s newly released strategies and the upcoming strategy on the outermost regions. Taken together, these initiatives represent the first coordinated European approach to addressing permanent structural handicaps and unlocking the long-term potential of these regions, tackling shared pressures while factoring in their distinct realities, including acute social challenges such as housing shortages, seasonality, unbalanced tourism, limited services and connectivity constraints. The committee warns that fully reflecting the specific needs of islands and coastal communities in future proposals – and aligning them with broader EU priorities – will require targeted and predictable budgetary support. It therefore underlines the importance of incorporating dedicated measures for the development of these areas in future National and Regional Partnership Plans.

A final consideration is that tourism can only fulfil its potential – and be guided responsibly – if it is accorded a greater prominence in the priorities and financial allocations of the 2028-2034 MFF. However, even if the architecture of the next MFF offers a clearer path to anchor tourism as a strategic industrial priority, the committee judges that current progress remains far from sufficient. Furthermore, the committee regrets that, yet again, the proposal falls short of establishing a dedicated programme and a specific budget line for sustainable tourism.

Yours sincerely,

Elissavet VozembergVrionidi Rosa Serrano Sierra

the Rapporteur