Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Investments, Railways, Transport

Rail Baltica, a high speed railway corridor linking Tallinn to Warsaw, is currently the largest investment project in the Baltic States and is expected to be completed by 2024.

Speaking at the conference "Rail Baltica – Business Opportunities in the Baltic States" on Monday, President Markkula said: "Efficient railway links to central Europe are a key factor for strengthening the northern dimension of the EU and Rail Baltica is a core part of it. We need to invest on developing transport networks in order to better access European and global markets and to ensure our competitiveness."

According to the CoR President, transport networks play a crucial part in providing a productive and attractive business environment in a world where digitalisation, new forms of commerce and distribution, and improved public transport connections allow for the development of considerably larger business and labour market areas. Future investments should therefore focus on improving the TEN-T core network agreed at EU and national level.

"While Baltic States are investing 3,6 billion euros in the Rail Baltica project and Sweden will spend 2,3 billion euros yearly to improve its transport network in the coming years, the corresponding expenditure in Finland has been between 600 and 700 million euros per year. Although investments from our neighbour countries are helping us, Finland should be at the forefront of technical development and investments to compensate for the distance-related costs", Markkula said.

The European Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives from all 28 Member States. Created in 1994 following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, its mission is to involve regional and local authorities in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies.