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Ambassador Simonas Šatūnas, who is temporarily in charge of Lithuania’s Permanent Representation to the EU, told BNS that the results of the talks, which ended on Friday night, are still being analyzed, but are optimistic.
During the negotiations, representatives of Member States and MEPs discussed the use of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) fund in 2021-2027.
“We are still analyzing the results of the CEF negotiations that ended last night. The most important achievement of the negotiations is that the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Rail Baltica railway project has retained the possibility of receiving exclusive EU funding: 1.6 billion . agreed in July 2020. This is optimistic. It is true that the formalization stage is still waiting, “S. Šatūnas told BNS.
Last July, EU leaders reached a political agreement on the allocation of funds to Rail Baltics, but some MEPs wanted the money not tied to a project in advance and others to be eligible.
In January, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and the Prime Ministers of Latvia and Estonia asked the Prime Minister of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council to defend the funding of Rail Baltica in the new budget in negotiations with the European Parliament.
In a joint letter, they stated that a successful conclusion of the negotiations would ensure a smooth ratification process, which is essential for the functioning of the EU Recovery Fund. Some in the Brussels media saw this as an indirect threat to veto the fund if funding for the railway project was not secured.
The Rail Baltica railway from Tallinn to Warsaw is scheduled to be built in 2026.
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