EUobserver.com

Efforts to link up Europe's transport networks – road, rail and waterway – are behind schedule and over budget, according to an EU report presented by transport commissioner Jacques Barrot.

The price tag attached to such efforts has climbed 16.8 percent on original projections to around €400 billion.

Additionally, large sections of the network have yet to be completed, according to the report.

"It is very clear today that significant parts of the 30 priority projects will not be completed until 2015 or even 2020," read the report, which covers the state of play of some 30 transport projects.

The commissioner, who presented the report on Tuesday (6 May) at an informal meeting of European transport ministers in Brdo, Slovenia, warned that EU member states had to maintain momentum for the completion of the remaining sections, highlighting the importance of transnational corridors as "a precondition for efficient and sustainable freight flows."

"This fall of investments in Europe is not a good sign," said commissioner Barrot.

"If you don't have true corridors, you'll have trouble making the shift from road to rail," he said, according to Reuters news agency.

However, a number of important sections of the transport network have been completed, notably the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail link and the Oresund link between Sweden and Denmark.

The informal meeting focussed on growing environmental, social and energy-related concerns in the face of increasing demand for transport services, and in particular the trans-European transport network and the greening of the transport sector. The aim of the discussion was to gather some first impressions concerning the European Commission's proposals in this area.

Slovenian transport minister Radovan Zerjav, chairing the talks, emphasised the importance of energy efficiency, particularly in view of the EU's growing energy dependence and the need to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

At the meeting, Mr Barrot also focussed on the need to boost private investments through public-private partnerships.

Mr Barrot is to visit Serbia on Wednesday (7 May), where he will propose including western Balkan countries into an integrated European transport network, the Reuters report also states.

The construction of the trans-European transport network is a major element in the EU's economic competitiveness strategy and seeks to achieve the interconnection and interoperability of national transport networks.

The Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) was created in 2006 to implement and manage the programme on behalf of the commission.

Trans-European transport network behind schedule