The European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP) looks forward to this week's plenary votes on the Multi-annual Financial Framework and the accompanying implementing financial programmes in the European Parliament. Inland ports, in particular, hope that they will benefit from:

- the Connecting Europe Facility, which provides Euro 23.17 billion to implement priority projects of the Trans-European Transport Network,

- the Cohesion Fund, which provides funding for transport infrastructure in the less developed countries of the European Union, including for smaller or less central projects, which may not be eligible for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility

-and from Horizon 2020, which will fund research and development in important areas for the sector, such as the development of greener vessels, training simulators for inland navigation, innovative urban transport solutions and new logistics concepts.

EFIP Director Kathrin Obst said: "This week's vote on the financial programmes is a first step towards realising the EU's vision of a sustainable integrated European infrastructure network. The crucial task is now implementation. We look forward to working closely with our members and with the EU institutions to make the best use of the available funds to improve the infrastructure of inland ports and to make them key players in tomorrow's sustainable multi-modal transport network. In this context, we also look forward to playing an active role in the new governance structure of the core network corridors that is to be set up in the framework of the Trans-European Transport Network Policy."

In the week starting from 18 November the European Parliament will vote in Plenary on agreements reached in negotiations with the Commission and Council on the Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014-2020 and several implementing policies, such as the Trans-European Transport Network Policy, Connecting Europe Facility, Cohesion Fund and the research programme Horizon 2020. The Council has yet to formally approve the European Parliament's position in the following weeks