The European Commission has launched a more flexible funding call for safe and secure parking across the European Union.
Similar, to the two previous calls for funding, the European Commission has made €250 million available for safe and secure mobility projects.
The funding covers the development of new safe and secure parking areas, upgrading existing facilities, and efforts to enhance the dissemination of parking information, including the availability, location and pricing of parking areas.
The requirements foresee that new safe and secure truck parking areas (SSTPAs) built with Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding comply with EU standards adopted in April 2022.
The EU standards set out the minimum level of service which SSTPAs need to offer to professional drivers. This includes gender-friendly sanitary facilities, food and beverage services, internet availability, power supply, and the presence of emergency contact points and procedures. IRU helped develop the EU standards through its contribution to a 2019 study and participation in the European Commission’s Expert Group on SSTPAs.
IRU EU Advocacy Director Raluca Marian said, “We welcome the announcement of additional EU funds for our sector. Policymakers listened to us and enlarged the scope of the funding to cover the comprehensive network.”
“We will see if additional funding will be allocated under the Connecting Europe Facility. We sincerely hope that it will be the case after this third call,” she added.
According to the 2019 study, there are 300,000 truck parking spaces available in the EU, with a significant shortfall of 100,000 spaces to meet total demand. Only 7,000 spots, or less than 3% of existing parking places in the EU, are in certified safe and secure areas.
New solutions, such as the revision of private co-funding requirements, are needed to attract successful projects. Depending on the location of the parking areas, the amount of private co-funding varies, making the application less attractive for many players.
