Daily News 17 / 07 / 2024

L'UE va investir un montant record de 7 milliards d'euros dans des infrastructures de transport durables, sûres et intelligentes

La Commission européenne a sélectionné 134 projets de transport qui recevront plus de 7 milliards d'euros de subventions de l'UE au titre du mécanisme Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Ce financement représente l'appel le plus important dans le cadre de l'actuel programme CEF Transport.

Environ 83 % du financement soutiendra des projets alignés sur les objectifs climatiques de l'UE, en se concentrant sur l'amélioration et la modernisation des chemins de fer, des voies navigables intérieures et des routes maritimes au sein du réseau transeuropéen de transport (RTE-T).

Ainsi, les projets ferroviaires recevront 80 % du montant total de 7 milliards d'euros.

Parmi les projets les plus importants figurent les liaisons ferroviaires transfrontalières dans les États membres de la Baltique (Rail Baltica), entre la France et l'Italie (Lyon-Turin) et entre le Danemark et l'Allemagne (tunnel de Fehmarnbelt).

Par ailleurs, une vingtaine de ports maritimes répartis dans plusieurs pays bénéficieront d'une aide à la modernisation des infrastructures, notamment pour l'alimentation électrique des navires à terre et le transport des énergies renouvelables.

Parmi les projets retenus, plusieurs permettront d'accroître la capacité des voies de la solidarité entre l'UE et l'Ukraine, mis en place pour faciliter les importations et les exportations entre l'Ukraine et l'UE en couvrant l'amélioration des infrastructures routières, les passages frontaliers ferroviaires et l'intégration du système ferroviaire ukrainien.

Demain, 18 juillet, marquera aussi la date d'entrée en vigueur du règlement RTE-T révisé, qui contribuera fortement à promouvoir des modes de transport plus durables, à faire progresser la numérisation et à améliorer la multimodalité entre les différents modes de transports.

Vous trouverez plus d'informations dans notre communiqué de presse.

(Plus d‘informations: Adalbert Jahnz – Tél.: +32 2 295 31 56; Anna Wartberger – Tél.: +32 2 298 25 04)

Commission clears acquisition of Nuvei by WPF and Advent

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control of Nuvei Corporation (‘Nuvei') by Whiskey Papa Fox Inc. (‘WPF'), both of Canada, and Advent International, L.P. (‘Advent'), of the US.

The transaction relates primarily to the payment services sector.  

The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies' limited combined market position resulting from the proposed transaction. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

More information is available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11582.

(For more information: Lea Zuber – Tel.: +32 2 295 62 98; Sara Simonini  - Tel.: +32 2 298 33 67)

STATEMENT

Statement by the Commission on the General Court's judgments on the access to documents cases concerning the purchase agreements for COVID-19 vaccines

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the General Court in the two cases concerning access to the COVID-19 vaccine contracts and related information.

The Commission will carefully study the Court's judgments and their implications.

In its judgments, the General Court follows the Commission on most claims. In particular, it recognises that the protection of commercial interest covers the clauses of the contracts concerning: a) The location of the production sites; b) the provisions on intellectual property rights; c) the provisions on down payments or advanced payments; d) access to delivery schedules.

The General Court has confirmed that the Commission was entitled to provide only partial access.

It has only partially upheld the legal action on two points.

It has ruled that the Commission should have provided more explanations to justify refusing access to certain provisions in the contracts.

It has also ruled that the Commission should have provided the personal data related to the members of the negotiation teams, composed of Member State representatives and Commission officials.

In general, the Commission grants the widest possible public access to documents, in line with the principles of openness and transparency.

In these cases, the Commission needed to strike a difficult balance between the right of the public, including MEPs, to information, and the legal requirements emanating from the COVID-19 contracts themselves, which could result in claims for damages at the cost of taxpayers' money.

In fact, in many cases in the past, the Court of Justice has recognised the need to protect the business interests of a contractual partner.

In any event, the Commission had provided to the European Parliament (under the Framework Agreement on relations between the two institutions) full information on the COVID-19 vaccine contracts.

In accordance with its institutional role, the Commission is responsible to ensure the absence of any conflict of interest, and also has the duty to protect the privacy and personal data of the individuals concerned.

At this stage, the Commission reserves its legal options.

The statement is equally available online.

(For more information: Eric Mamer – Tel.: +32 2 299 40 73; Stefan de Keersmaecker – Tel.: +32 2 298 46 80)

Tentative agendas for forthcoming Commission meetings

Note that these items can be subject to changes.

Upcoming events of the European Commission

Eurostat press releases