Some things take years to build. Some things are decided in a single day. This week in Brussels was both at once.<\/p>\n
The Committee on Territorial Cohesion and EU Budget (COTER) of the European Committee of the Regions adopted its opinion on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 2028\u20132034 regulation on 24\u201325 June 2026. Csaba Borboly, Member of the European Committee of the Regions, took the floor and tabled a series of amendments. The large majority of those amendments were adopted by the commission.<\/p>\n
The outcome matters not just procedurally. The rules being written now will determine which regions in Europe can access transport investment funding between 2028 and 2034, and which ones will once again be left outside the frame.<\/p>\n
Where It Started: The Social Climate Fund and the First Legislative Pillar<\/strong><\/p>\n The concept of transport poverty did not enter EU institutional language by accident. Csaba Borboly introduced it into the EU’s policy vocabulary through his work on the Social Climate Fund opinion, where he represented this position within the European Committee of the Regions and pushed for its adoption through a series of targeted amendments.<\/p>\n The Social Climate Fund is the instrument through which the European Union compensates citizens most affected by the green transition, financed from revenues generated by the ETS2 carbon emissions trading system. The stakes are considerable: the green transition raises the costs of energy and transport, and citizens with lower incomes in peripheral, mountain and rural regions are the most exposed. Without explicit compensation, the green transition risks becoming a socially unjust burden.<\/p>\n The amendments tabled by Csaba Borboly in the Social Climate Fund opinion pursued a clear objective. A person who has no bus, no train, no alternative, and who is forced to rely on a private car cannot be treated as a statistical footnote. Transport poverty, meaning the inability to access mobility at a reasonable cost or the physical impossibility of reaching essential services due to the absence of infrastructure, had to be explicitly recognised as a social risk covered by the Fund. Those amendments were accepted. Transport poverty entered the logic of the Social Climate Fund. A legal basis now exists on which citizens from regions without public transport can claim compensation from European resources.<\/p>\n That was the first pillar.<\/p>\n Why a Second Pillar Was Necessary<\/strong><\/p>\n The Social Climate Fund compensates. But it does not build infrastructure. It does not lay tracks, open bus lines, or connect an isolated village to the national transport network.<\/p>\n For that, a second funding channel exists: the Connecting Europe Facility and cohesion policy. If transport poverty remained recognised only in the compensatory logic of the Social Climate Fund, but not in the project selection criteria for infrastructure investment, then half the problem remained unresolved.<\/p>\n This is why the work continued. The same concept had to be brought into the CEF 2028\u20132034 regulation and into the European strategy on sustainable transport and high-speed rail. This is the document that determines where infrastructure is built in Europe over the next seven years.<\/p>\n On 24\u201325 June 2026, that second step was completed. The amendments adopted by the COTER commission introduce transport poverty as an explicit financing objective of the CEF and as a mandatory criterion in project selection. Not to compensate the person who has no transport, but to build the transport itself. That is the second pillar.<\/p>\n Together, the two pillars form a complete legislative foundation: from social recognition to infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n What the Rapporteur and the Commission Confirmed<\/strong><\/p>\n What happened in Brussels was not only about the adoption of amendments. At the hearing, both the rapporteur and the representative of the European Commission spoke. What they said confirms the direction that has been advocated.<\/p>\n The rapporteur was unambiguous: fighting transport poverty matters enormously, the network must reach everywhere, and it must belong to everyone. High-speed rail, the rapporteur stressed, is not only about connections between major cities. The last mile is in fact the first mile for most people. That means regional and local transport. It must not be sacrificed for the sake of high-speed corridors.<\/p>\n The European Commission representative confirmed that four EU funds currently finance transport in parallel, and that coordinating them is essential. In the Commission’s own words: every euro invested in railways generates 2.7 euros in economic added value. But that return is only achievable if resources are not concentrated exclusively on main lines.<\/p>\n These were not general statements made in the abstract. They were made in the specific context of the amendments under discussion.<\/p>\n The Signal from the Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a third confirmation that deserves attention. UITP, the European association of public transport operators representing cities and regions across the continent, itself reached out to the Committee of the Regions with a clear message: local and regional public transport is underrepresented in Social Climate Plans. This is precisely the argument advanced through the amendments tabled this week.<\/p>\n The largest organisation in the sector sees the same road. It is not an opposing interest. It is an ally.<\/p>\n This kind of institutional convergence is rare. It signals that the direction being advocated is not only politically sound but professionally grounded.<\/p>\n Why This Matters for Peripheral, Mountain and Rural Regions<\/strong><\/p>\n The European high-speed rail strategy (COM\/2025\/903) itself acknowledges that the high-speed network is being built mainly in Spain, France, Italy and Germany. Central and Eastern Europe is barely connected. Mountain regions, peripheral territories and sparsely populated areas across the EU are largely absent from the map.<\/p>\n The adopted opinion changes the terms of that debate. It states explicitly that this imbalance directly threatens territorial cohesion and the right of people to remain in their territory. The EU must provide dedicated funding for regional rail networks, last-mile connections and missing cross-border links, with simplified access for local and regional authorities.<\/p>\n The amendment on CEF 2028\u20132034 allocation means that mountain and peripheral regions will be eligible for enhanced support rates and simplified access procedures, recognising their structural disadvantages and the disproportionate cost of building and maintaining infrastructure in such areas.<\/p>\n The amendment on project selection means that each funded action must be assessed for its impact on transport poverty. Projects that demonstrably reduce transport poverty in disadvantaged areas will receive additional weighting in the award process.<\/p>\n What the two pillars now make possible, taken together, is this: the citizen in a village without transport has a legal basis to claim compensation through the Social Climate Fund, and at the same time, the regional authority can apply for infrastructure funding through the CEF to solve the problem at its source. That is a complete framework. The first of its kind.<\/p>\n When Will There Be Funding and for What Kinds of Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n The Connecting Europe Facility covers the period 2028 to 2034. The Commission has proposed 51.5 billion euros for transport objectives within this framework. The first calls for proposals could open as early as the beginning of 2028, provided that agreement on the regulation is reached during 2027.<\/p>\n The types of projects that stand to benefit include rail rehabilitation in areas without TEN-T core network access, construction of multimodal nodes connecting rail, road and local public transport systems, measures reducing transport poverty in disadvantaged areas, and projects from mountain and peripheral regions whose authorities can document structural territorial disadvantage.<\/p>\n Experience from previous CEF cycles shows that the projects approved fastest are those with preparation already underway, supported by feasibility studies, territorial justification and institutional backing.<\/p>\n What Must Happen Now at Regional and National Level<\/strong><\/p>\n The work at European level has been done. The principles and financing obligations are now written into the documents that define the future of European transport. But a legal basis does not build buses or lay rail tracks on its own.<\/p>\n The steps that must follow are concrete. Regional and local authorities need to map transport deficits precisely, not in general terms but by locality and by route. They need to build a portfolio of projects ready for the CEF 2028\u20132034 cycle, because regions appear in CEF priority maps only when they show up with projects, not with intentions. They need to engage in the planning of national Social Climate Plans, because those plans are being designed now and regions that are absent from the planning process will not appear in the final priorities. And they need to establish direct contact with UITP and other European transport organisations, because the sector is already looking for regional partners who represent this agenda.<\/p>\n The Political Window Is Open Now, Not Later<\/strong><\/p>\n The European Council agreement on the 2028\u20132034 Multiannual Financial Framework is planned for the end of 2026. The decisive meetings are scheduled for October, November and December. Once the rules are fixed, they cannot be reopened.<\/p>\n If regional and local authorities, national governments and European representatives can align their efforts now, a structural opportunity is within reach that will not return in the same form. The legal framework exists. The political confirmation has been received. The institutional allies are ready.<\/p>\n The window is open. It will not stay open indefinitely.<\/p>\n Csaba Borboly is a Member of the European Committee of the Regions. He participated in the COTER commission meeting of 24\u201325 June 2026 in Brussels, where amendments on transport poverty, mountain and peripheral region access, and territorial cohesion impact assessment were adopted.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some things take years to build. Some things are decided in a single day. This week in Brussels was both at once. The Committee on Territorial Cohesion and EU Budget (COTER) of the European Committee of the Regions adopted its opinion on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 2028\u20132034 regulation on 24\u201325 June 2026. Csaba Borboly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,1,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cor","category-hirek","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}