Opening speech by President von der Leyen at the Connecting Europe Days

“Check against delivery”

Commissioner Tzitzikostas, dear Apostolos,

Commissioner Andrius Kubilius,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be at the Connecting Europe Days 2026. Because transport has always been at the heart of our Union's story. 70 years ago, as Europe's founding fathers were negotiating the Treaties that would shape our Union, engineers were finishing a railway bridge across the Rhine between France and Germany. The previous bridge had been destroyed during World War II. 11 years later, trains could again cross the river between Strasbourg and Kehl. While Europe's leaders were building political integration, Europe's engineers were building physical integration. And for millions of Europeans, that is how our Union became real in their everyday lives. And it remains true today. The Erasmus student who can take a bus across Europe to spend a weekend with friends. The cross-border commuter who can live in one country and work in another. Or the small business, able to reach new markets thanks to an expanded port. Transport turns the promise of a connected Europe into an everyday experience. But this physical integration is never finished. In the 1990s, Europe faced another moment of reconnection. For decades, the Iron Curtain ran between Vienna and Bratislava. A heavily controlled border between East and West. Then the borders opened, and Europe again began to reconnect. Today, with European investment, the railway between Vienna and Bratislava has been modernised and electrified. Two capitals once separated by the Iron Curtain are now connected by train in less than an hour. It is a story that carries lessons for us today. Every generation inherits the connections built by the one before. And every generation must build for the ones to follow. That is our task: our Single Market needs faster and better connections. Transport is being transformed by new technologies, bringing vast new opportunities. Our infrastructure must adapt to a changing climate and a more volatile world. And our continent itself is changing as new countries move closer to our Union. So, maintaining what we have is not enough. We need to build the transport system for the decades ahead. It is time to build a true Transport Union.

Today, I want to focus on how we get there. First, the work starts by completing the connections within our Union. Here, we have a clear plan – our Trans-European Transport Network. Many of you are contributing to it. A network of railways, waterways, and roads. Linking our cities, ports and terminals. We need to remove the bottlenecks between Member States. We need to turn 27 national systems into one truly European network. And we are working for that vision becoming reality. All across Europe.

Look at Lisbon and Madrid. Every day, nearly 40 flights link these two capitals just over 600 kilometres apart. That is in part because there is no direct train between them. This is now changing. We are building a new high-speed connection across the Iberian Peninsula. By 2030, passengers will be able to travel directly between Lisbon and Madrid in five hours. And by 2034, in around three hours – giving millions of people a fast and more sustainable alternative to flying; connecting Portugal and Spain; and linking them into Europe's wider high-speed rail network. This is exactly what TEN-T is about: closing the missing links on our map; removing the barriers between national networks; and turning them into one European network. The economic potential is huge. Our estimates show that completing the network could increase Europe's GDP by 2.4% by 2050. That is equivalent to €467 billion. So I call on all of you to keep up the work. And complete the network as foreseen.

But delivering that promise requires investment to match our ambition. That is why we have proposed more than €50 billion for transport under Connecting Europe in our next long-term budget. More than twice the funding available today. We must keep that level of ambition. Because if we want a true Single Market, then we need the infrastructure that allows it to work.

Second, we need Europe to remain at the forefront of transport innovation. We start from a position of real strength. From high-speed trains to aircraft and electric trucks – Europe has world-leading companies. European companies account for almost half of the global market for rail equipment and services. And 70% of the world's airspace is managed by technology made in Europe.

But transport is changing rapidly with electrification and automation. These technologies are already transforming how people and goods move today. And we must make sure that these technologies of tomorrow are not only used in Europe. But that they are developed and built in Europe. Take electric trucks. This is a rapidly growing sector, where Europe has world-leading companies. There are currently 26 000 zero-emission trucks on Europe's roads. By 2030, that could be 400 000. This is an immense opportunity. But companies will only invest at that scale if the conditions are right. And if those trucks can reliably charge wherever they travel in Europe. That is why we are working with Member States to develop charging corridors across borders. And projects funded by the European Union are rolling out high-power charging infrastructure along our main European transport routes. Not 27 national charging networks – but one European network. And the same principle applies to our rules for autonomous vehicles. They need to be tested in the real world. But today, testing across several Member States means navigating different national permits and procedures. So, this summer, 18 Member States agreed to work together on large-scale cross-border testbeds for autonomous vehicles. With common principles for approvals and coordinated permitting. That means innovators can test new technologies across borders and at European scale. That is using Europe's advantage – to make sure the next generation of transport technology is developed and built here.

My third point. We need our transport network to be ready for a more volatile world. We already see the effects of climate change across our infrastructure. Heat disrupting railways. Floods closing roads and tunnels. Drought leaving major waterways dangerously low. So, resilience must be built in from the beginning. At Milan Malpensa Airport, European investment is helping protect critical infrastructure from flooding. And across Europe, ports are preparing for rising sea levels and changing water conditions. But as our climate changes, the risks to our infrastructure will only grow. That is why, next month, we will present a new European framework for climate resilience. Because the infrastructure we build today must be ready for the climate of tomorrow.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I began my speech with the story of a railway bridge across the Rhine. From the earliest days of our Union, physical integration went hand in hand with political integration. Today, as our Union prepares to grow again, we are following the same principle. Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans are moving closer to us. And we are already building the physical connections that bring them closer to Europe. Look at Moldova. For decades, much of its transport infrastructure looked east. Today, we are helping it connect west. We are supporting new and upgraded connections with Romania. Because every railway we connect and every road we upgrade brings our future Union closer.

70 years ago, engineers built a bridge across the Rhine for a Europe that was just beginning to come together. They did not know what exactly Europe's future would be. But they built for that future. That is our responsibility today. To complete the connections in our Single Market. To give our innovators the scale they need – to lead in emerging technologies. And to build the infrastructure – ready for a larger and better-connected Europe in a volatile world. This is the purpose of the European Transport Union. Let us make it happen. And I wish you great Connecting Europe Days.

Thank you and long live Europe.