In a meeting with Austrian Transport Minister Hubert Gorbach, MEPs from all political groups attacked the Council's decision to cut the budget for the TENs from ?20bn to ?7bn for the period 2007-2013.

The minister, appearing in his capacity as President-in-Office of the Transport Council, was told by the committee that the TENs (a network of transeuropean road, rail and inland waterway routes) were the most powerful factor in European integration after the euro and that their completion was vital to economic growth. The completion of only some projects would disrupt integration of the network as a whole. The Council, said MEPs, should keep its promises and not undermine the credibility of the EU. If EU funding were reduced, this would also have serious consequences for the introduction of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERMTS), a common EU signalling system which was vital for the future of the Community's railways.

Mr Gorbach agreed that promises should be kept but added that there were other interests at stake. In any case it was the Ecofin and not the Transport Council which would take the final decisions on the budget. On behalf of all political groups, Transport Committee chair Paolo Costa (ALDE, IT) has sent a letter to EP President Josep Borrell, Council President-in-Office Wolfgang Sch?and Commission President Jos頍anuel Barroso, expressing dismay at the Council's plans.

"Completion of the TENs is crucially dependent on the EU's ability heavily to co-finance all cross-border sections of these projects. It is vital to maintain investment in the cross-border sections of all projects. This is more important than attempting to prioritise between projects. If this does not happen, major projects risk being abandoned not least because effective progress in construction phases from 2010 depends on an adequate commitment to invest from 2007", writes Mr Costa.