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EC wants new cash for Marco Polo
5th August 2004, Page 19
5th August 2004
Page 19
Page 19, 5th August 2004
— EC wants new cash for Marco Polo
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THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to pour money into rail and sea freight.
The EU's intermodal Marco Polo programme was due to end in 2010; now the EC wants EU ministers to extend it until 2013 with a huge budget increase.
In 2003-6 Marco Polo received €75m; the EC is proposing a 2007-13 budget of €750m. This, it says, would take account of the 10 new EU members; making funds available for fast shipping links and traffic avoidance technology.
The plan is part of a major review of the EU's medium-term spending.
Marco Polo's key goal is shifting freight off the roads. EU transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio says:"It is high time to give the EU sufficient budgetary resources to encourage public and private investment in major infrastructure."