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Glossary of summaries

Trans-European networks (TENs)

Date of last review:
06/09/2021
Author:
Publications Office of the European Union
Responsible entity(ies):
Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport

Trans-European networks (TENs)

The function of trans-European networks (TENs) is to create a modern and effective infrastructure to link Europe’s regions and national networks. TENs are essential to the proper operation of the European Union’s (EU) single market and to employment, since they ensure the free movement of goods, persons and services.

Articles 170, 171 and 172 together with Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provide the legal basis for TENs, which exist in the following three sectors of activity.

  • Trans-European transport networks (TEN-T) cover projects of common interest to create new transport infrastructure or to upgrade the existing infrastructure, to close gaps, to remove bottlenecks and to eliminate technical barriers to transport flows between EU Member States.
  • Trans-European energy networks (TEN-E) cover the electricity and natural gas sectors. They aim to link the energy infrastructure of EU Member States to help create a single energy market and contribute to security of supply.
  • Trans-European telecommunications networks (eTEN) aim to remove digital barriers hindering the completion of the digital single market and to achieve the EU’s objectives of connecting all European households to the internet.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a fund originally created for the 2014-2020 period to stimulate investment in the TENs and to leverage funding from both the private and public sectors, has been extended for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework period. The amounts allocated to the programme from the EU budget are as follows.

  • Transport. €11.4 billion (plus a transfer of €10 billion from the Cohesion Fund), of which €1.4 billion is for the missing major cross-border railway links between cohesion countries.
  • Energy. €5.2 billion.
  • Digital. €1.8 billion.

Directive (EU) 2021/1187 streamlines measures for advancing the realisation of the trans-European transport network by harmonising permit-granting procedures required to implement certain projects. The new ‘smart TEN-T’ rules clarify the procedures which project promoters need to follow as regards permit granting and public procurement for cross-border projects. The directive covers projects that are part of pre-identified sections of the TEN-T core network. It also covers other projects on the core network corridors, the total cost of which is in excess of €300 million. Projects exclusively related to telematics and other new technologies are not covered by the directive, as their deployment is not limited to the TEN-T core network. Member States, however, may apply the directive to other projects on the core and comprehensive TEN-T network as part of a broader, more harmonised approach to transport infrastructure projects.

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