The Mecanismo Conectar Europa (MCE) is a key EU funding instrument to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at a European level. It supports the development of high performing, sustainable and efficiently interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital services.
The CEF benefits people across all Member States, as it makes travel easier and more sustainable, it enhances Europe’s energy security while enabling wider use of renewables, and it facilitates cross-border interaction between public administrations, businesses and citizens.
In addition to grants, the CEF offers financial support to projects through innovative financial instruments such as guarantees and project bonds. These instruments act as a catalyst to attract further funding from the private sector and other public sector actors.
Since January 2014, the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) has been the gateway to funding under the CEF. INEA implements most of the CEF programme budget, in total €28.7 billion out of €30.4 billion (€23.7 billion for Transport, €4.6 billion for Energy, and €0.5 billion for Telecom). On 15 February 2021, the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) took over from the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA)..
The CEF is divided into three sectors:
- a. CEF Energy
- b. CEF Telecom
- c. Transporte CEF
One of the key priorities of the CEF is enabling and strengthening the synergies between the three sectors. Actions across sectors may enable costs or results to be optimised through the pooling of financial, technical or human resources, thus enhancing the effectiveness of EU funding.