CEF Regulation requirements

REPUBLIC OF EsT0NIA J9 () MINISTRY OF EcoNoMIc AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS Mr Ruijters, Mr Chantraine European Commission Our Ref: 15.09.2022 No 25-1/2 1- DG Move 0307/5709-1 B-1049, Brussels BELGIUM Dear Mr Ruijters and Mr Chantraine, 2th First of ali, we want to thank you for the constructive CEF Committee meeting held on the 1 of September and we are of course scrutinizing with great interest the cail for proposais that was released a day later. To foliow-up on the substance of the mentioned CEF Committee meeting, 1 am writing to you in order to clarify the interpretation of the European Commission regarding some stipulations of the CEF Regulation (2021/1153), specificaily two items stipulated in this Regulation, namely the “capping” of Cohesion transfer grants per Member State (“170 % of the share of that Member State in the total amount transferred from the Cohesion Fund)” and regarding the allocation in the General envelope for “completion of missing major cross-border railway links between cohesion countries”. Firstly, clarification regarding the “cap”. We are getting appiications from the project promoters who wouid iike to apply for AFIF CEF calls under the Cohesion fund part of the cail and for this they are asking for Member State approvai letter/certificates. We are of course giad that the sector is active in the aiternative fueis infrastructure fieid and we keep encouraging them to apply for CEF support. However, due to Estonia’s priority to make the most possibie use of CEF transport Cohesion transfer part for continuing the construction of Raii Baitic, we have encouraged the other proj ects to apply for support under the General envelope part of the AFIF caiis. Recentiy, we have understood that there are different interpretations in different Member States as to what is the 100% basis, on which this 170% threshoid is calculated. Article 4.10 of the CEF Reguiation stipulates that “Until 31 December 2025, the totai amount allocated from the amount referred to in paragraph 2, point (a)(ii), to actions in a Member State eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund shall not exceed 170 % of the share of that Member State in the totai amount transferred from the Cohesion Fund.” Suur-Ameerika 1 / 10122 Tallinn / ESTONIA Phone: +372 625 6342 / Fax: +372 631 3660 / E-mail: [email protected] / http://www.mkm.ee To our understanding, there is nothing specific stipulated in this articie concerning which objective (priority) of CEF transport these “actions in Cohesion Fund Member States’ would contribute to: either one, the other or ali parts of the CEF transport budget using Cohesion Fund transfer. Consequentiy, our interpretation has been so far that in the MAP 2021-2023 budget table (please see extract from Chapter 7 below) any amount granted under the “Cohesion” calls, including AFIF Cohesion caII would be counted within this “up to 170%” threshold please - refer to the respective amounts marked with yellow background in the MAP tabie below. Extract: Indicative timetable, topics and amounts available for the calls for proposais 2021- 2023 (Chapter 7 of the current Multiannual Work Programme) 2 (5) EUR million, current prices Call 2021 Call 2022 Call 2023 Objective General Cohesion General Cohesion General Cohesion envelope envelope envelope envelope envelope envelope 2,000 1,620 2 000 . Projects on the Core Network 1 620 1,620 2,000 Actions re)ated to Article 9(2)(a) of the CEF Regulation / Projects on the Comprehensive Network 250 350 250 350 250 350 Completion of the TEN-T network 2,350 Total 1,870 2,350 1,870 2,350 1,870 Actions related to smart and interoperable 50 400 150 400 150 400 mobility Alternative Fueis 125 400 125 400 125 . Infrastructure 400 Actions related to Actions related to Facility Article 9(2)(b) of the sustainable and CEF Regulation / multimodal mobility 25 100 25 Other 100 25 100 Modernisation of the TEN-T network Actions related to safe and secure 150 100 150 100 150 100 mobility 450 1,000 450 1,000 450 Total 1,000 Actions related to Article 9(2)(c) of the CEF Regulation / 330 330 330 Clvii ian-defence dual-use (Military mobility envelope) 6,000 6,000 6,000 TOTAL 2 2 Evaluation costs (experts, transiation,etc.)- up to 2 3(5) With the objective ofhaving a clear and common understanding of the impact ofapplications under the AFIF calls, Cohesion Fund part (i.e. under the “Alternative Fueis Infrastructure Facility” line indicating 125 min € per year in the MAP budget table above), we would welcome the interpretation ofDG Move on this question. To sum this question up, we would highly appreciate ciarification from the European Commission whether this 170% threshold is applied to 100% of the Cohesion Fund transfer to CEF Transport, to 70% of the Cohesion transfer or to 30% of “the total amount transferred from the Cohesion Fund”? In CEF financing, we have a clear priority for Raii Baltic and so far we have not given out permits to applicants from Estonia to apply under AFIF Cohesion Fund calls. This is why it is important for us to be very elear on how the 170% threshold is calculated when potentially issuing the support letters to applicants from Estonia under the different parts of the CEF calls. Secondly, 1 want to follow-up on the allocation in general envelope for “completion of missing major cross-border railway links between cohesion countries.” We of course want to thank the Commission for the verbal clarifications given at the CEF Committee meeting to have 800 million € of the mentioned allocation in the 2022 call and 800 million € in the 2023 call. To our understanding, these grants will be awarded based on competition between the applications submitted under this “completion of missing major cross-border railway links between cohesion countries” priority. However, we heard during the meeting that fully competitive basis was mentioned several times in the context of this aliocation. To avoid any misgivings, our understanding regarding “to be allocated ... on a competitive basis, for the completion of...” would mean that this allocation is specified as a specific priority and sub-budget item in the CEF transport budget and CEF calls; — - the applications submitted under this priority (under this sub-budget item) are evaluated, based on the regular criteria stipulated in the Regulation; and the awarding ofgrants under this priority would be based on these evaluation results. Thus, both the “1 559 800 000 to be allocated” and “on a competitive basis” requirements would be met. Our understanding is based on Recital 22, Article 15.2.d and Annex Part II of the CEF Regulation. We would appreciate the interpretation of the European Commission concerning the impiementation ofthese stipulations. To sum up this question: can you please reconfirm our understanding that appiications from Cohesion Member States subject to this allocation are competing for this alloeation (€ 1 559 800 000 for completion of missing major cross-border railway links between cohesion countries) among themseives, and not among ali project applications for improving TEN-T Core Network infrastructure from ali the General Envelope Member States? 4(5) We are very thankful in advance for looking into these clarifications and we are looking forward to your kind feedback! With best regards, General for Transport Eva Killar +372 625 6485 [email protected] /*copy to Ministry ofTransport of the Republic ofLatvia Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania 5 (5)