The European Commission, on a proposal from Vice-President Tajani, has just renewed the mandates of six coordinators in the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T) sector. With this decision, the Commission confirms the European coordinator solution which has proved to be both effective and decisive for Priority Projects where progress has met with difficulties.

The Commission is therefore renewing the mandates of the following coordinators  in the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T) sector:

• Mr Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, for Priority Project 6 ”Railway axis Lyon-Trieste-Divača/Koper-Divača-Ljubljana-Budapest-Ukrainian border”.
• Pavel Telicka, for Priority Project 27 "Rail Baltica axis: Warsaw-Kaunas-Riga-Tallinn-Helsinki”.
• Karel Vinck for the ERTMS project.
• Karla Peijs for Priority Project 18 “Waterway axis Rhine/Meuse-Main-Danube” and Priority Project 30 “Inland waterway Seine-Scheldt”.
• Luís Valente de Oliveira for Priority Project 21 “Motorways of the Sea”.
• The Commission has also decided to appoint Carlo Secchi as European coordinator for Priority Projects 3 (“High-speed railway axis of south-west Europe”) and 19 (“High-speed rail interoperability in the Iberian Peninsula”).

These new mandates take effect today and will expire in July 2013.

Moreover, two coordinators have to be replaced, and the decisions will be taken subsequently, under the new legislature of the European Parliament. Karel van Miert, who was working for Berlin-Palermo railway project, died last June, and Péter Balázs, who was coordinator for priority project 17 (Railway axis Paris-Wien-Bratislava), became Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary in April of this year.