On 16 July 2025, the European Commission (EC) presented its proposal for the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034. The Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) reaffirms its readiness to cooperate with European policymakers to ensure that the needs and priorities of the maritime transport sector are duly reflected in the forthcoming negotiations. Ports are strategic enablers of trade, energy transition, and drivers of regional and national economy. As such, their role must be clearly addressed in the EU’s financial framework.

The proposed MFF for 2028–2034 is described as more streamlined, flexible, and impactful, aiming to strengthen the EU’s independence, resilience, and prosperity in an era of geopolitical and economic challenges. Key priorities include:

• Competitiveness & Transport: Establishment of a European Competitiveness Fund (EUR 409 bn) to boost strategic technologies and continued support for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)
• Defence & Security: A record EUR 131 bn allocation for defence, space, and security under the Competitiveness Fund, including a tenfold increase in military mobility financing
• Green Transition & Energy: Introduction of new budgetary income sources such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), with substantial contributions earmarked for climate objectives

It all starts with money
The EU budget continues to be financed by own resources, with current sources including customs duties, VAT-based contributions, a plastics levy, and a GNI-based balancing resource. The Commission now proposes five additional revenue streams, including ETS, CBAM, an e-waste resource, a tobacco excise resource, and the Corporate Resource for Europe (CORE), to diversify financing and reduce pressure on national budgets.

The budget proposal foresees significant allocations across major instruments, including:

• National and Regional Partnership Plans (EUR 865 bn): integrating cohesion, agriculture, fisheries, and other funds into coherent strategies tailored to Member States needs and profiles
• European Competitiveness Fund (EUR 451 bn – including the Innovation Fund): supporting industrial decarbonisation, digital leadership, biotech, defence, and space
• Defence and Security (EUR 131 bn): earmarked under the Competitiveness Fund, a fivefold increase from the previous period
• Global Europe (EUR 200 bn): with an additional EUR 100 bn for Ukraine’s recovery and accession pathway

Safety and competitiveness
The proposal allocates EUR 81.4 bn to the CEF, supporting transport and energy networks as well as military mobility, tentatively split as follows: EUR 51.5 bn for transport and military mobility; EUR 29.9 bn for energy. The CEF proposal focuses on funneling funding to projects of common interest with cross-border or Union-wide dimensions, particularly in smart, decarbonised, resilient, and multimodal transport networks.

Military mobility is recognized as a critical EU priority, with CEF financing provisionally earmarked for dual-use civilian-military transport projects. The budget proposal lists four priority multimodal military mobility corridors (rail, road, rivers, road, sea and rail), including investments focused on widening tunnels, reinforcing road and railway bridges, as well as expanding port and airport terminals.

The way forward
While CEF III is vastly “bigger” than its predecessors, it does not automatically mean that maritime transport related projects will finally enjoy increased success in being accepted for funding. Questions remain over whether port-related infrastructure projects are automatically classified as “cross-border,” a matter requiring clarification.
Furthermore, European Maritime Space and TEN-T Ports have been listed as one entry in the “Indicative list of projects of common interest with cross-border dimension”, the significance of which is as of now unclear and will also require further clarification.

Furthermore, it is vital to ensure that dual-use projects involving ports and maritime infrastructure are fully understood and researched, keeping the central role they play in transport and logistic chains in mind.

Climate-related investments must be implemented without undermining the overall competitiveness of the EU maritime transport sector. Ports operate in a global environment where international competition is fierce, and the EU budget should ensure that environmental ambitions are pursued in parallel with measures safeguarding efficiency, affordability, and competitiveness.

“The strategic importance of ports as essential nodes of trade, energy transition, and security for the EU needs to be understood and considered at every step and reflected in access to sufficient financing support. The budgetary decision-making process should be as transparent as possible. We hope that the recently proposed EU Ports Strategy will be taken into consideration during the planning of the budget” said Bogdan Ołdakowski, Secretary General, BPO.

The BPO reiterates its readiness to cooperate with European institutions and policymakers, sharing expertise to ensure the unique complexity of the port and maritime transport sector is understood and adequately addressed. This collaboration should be considered essential to strengthening the EU’s overall competitiveness and global position.