Brussels, 8 December 2022
Press remarks by EU Commissioner Adina Vălean on financing transport infrastructure in Ukraine and Moldova along the Solidarity Lanes
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, we discussed in a conference co-organised with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) about financing Solidarity Lanes – the new logistical routes for Ukraine. Ministers and Secretaries of State from Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, and Romania joined the meeting and provided input on the need for investment in infrastructure – on their territories and the cross-border connections.
Update on Solidarity Lanes
The Solidarity Lanes are now almost 7 months old. They have carried more than 17 million tonnes of cereals, plus many other products – from humanitarian aid to fuel, animal feed, and fertilisers. It is no exaggeration to say that the Solidarity Lanes have become a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy.
And they are here to stay.
All EU Member States have helped with the Solidarity lanes, but geography dictated that more responsibility would go to some in particular. I am grateful to Poland, Slovakia, and Romania for their hard work and commitment.
The Danube route and the port of Constanta have been key in demand, accounting for more than 50 % of Solidarity Lane grain exports. The land-based northern Polish route is the second busiest. Other corridors, in particular the Adriatic Corridor, remain crucial.
We have done what we can with the resources we have. To go further – and we must go further – we need more investment: in rolling stock, scanners and transhipment equipment, and infrastructure upgrades.
Together, the Commission, the EBRD, the EIB, and the World Bank have announced a €1 billion package of financing specifically for the Solidarity Lanes. We are also opening up the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the funding instrument for the TEN-T, to Ukraine and Moldova. This can be used to support cross-border projects to remove bottlenecks.
Working with the EBRD
We are working with the EBRD to support key infrastructure projects. The first ‘blending instrument’, combining EU grants and EBRD loans to support the Solidarity Lanes, will be operational very soon.
My services have already started making available part of the 250 million we intend to allocate through the CEF, including via its military mobility department.
However, we are under time pressure to make sure the money can flow rapidly to start the most urgent projects. That is why I encouraged my colleagues’ ministers present today, from Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova, to finalise their agreement on a short list of projects in the next few weeks, because these projects need to be tabled before January 18th when the ongoing CEF call will close.
We have already encouraging results on the military mobility call. Out of 600 million available, we have received requests for Solidarity Lanes related projects worth more than 10 percent of the entire envelope. I am confident we can satisfy most of them, which is very good news for the front-line Member States. I want to see the same rate of success for the general CEF call. The same goes for the reallocation of Cohesion funds at risk of decommissioning.
Another good example of our support is the €20 million grant that the EU will provide to Moldova, to be blended with the €12 million loan from the EBRD. This support will help rehabilitate the north-south rail axis and facilitate Ukrainian export through Moldovan territory to the Danube ports.
Night-time navigation on the Danube (on the Sulina channel), upgrades in border crossing points between Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine as well as mobile equipment for transhipment, truck parking areas, or upgrades in rail infrastructure in port areas in Romania are just a few examples of what can start being built early next year if we reach a common agreement on the priorities.
These are, in a nutshell, the main points of the discussions. I will be glad to answer your questions.
Source – EU Commission