According to the Ministries of Mobility of Luxembourg and Belgium, the European Commission has expressed support for their joint proposal to invest in the Brussels-Luxembourg rail axis.
In a joint letter signed 14 January 2021, Ministers François Bausch and Georges Gilkinet appealed to Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, to mobilise sources of funding for the Brussels-Luxembourg rail axis as part of this investment plan.
The Commission Vice President has now responded positively to this appeal, describing the Belgian-Luxembourg project as "an example of our policy for the development of infrastructure at European level".
In a letter sent on 10 March 2021, Frans Timmermans and Adina Vălean, European Commisisioner for Transport, recognised the importance and the European dimension of the modernisation of the rail axis in question and expressed support on behalf of the European Commission for this project, in principle.
Frans Timmermans and Adina Vălean specified that “the priority nature of this project within the framework of the TEN-T [Trans-European Transport Network] policy is manifested in a very concrete way through the constant support shown by the Commission, both politically and financially. Thus, since 2006, the Union has co-financed studies and works in Belgium and Luxembourg to the tune of €132 million for a total investment of nearly €750 million”.
As such, the European coordinator is set to “organise a working group to take stock of the situation. In this context, the issues of infrastructure and its current limitations and services will be addressed”.
According to the respective Mobility Ministries, both the Luxembourg and Belgian Ministers of Mobility will support this proposal, in an attempt to release the necessary means to accelerate the finalisation of this important rail axis.
Ministers François Bausch (Luxembourg) and Georges Gilkinet (Belgium) concluded: “We welcome this positive response from the Commission and we hope that it will lead to the granting of additional resources for the finalization of this work. They are indeed important not only for the travelers concerned but also for our two countries, since they will make it possible, beyond Luxembourg, to improve international links to the east of France, or even Germany, the Switzerland and Italy. This project therefore also means giving an important boost to the pursuit of European construction, which is why it is so close to our hearts!".
