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The “Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)” is a central EU funding instrument for funding infrastructure investments in Europe. The CEF 2 programme (covering the period from 2021 to 2027) is designed, under the heading “CEF2 Digital”, to promote the deployment of high-capacity digital infrastructure in Europe, for which EU funding totalling 2 billion euros is available. The basis for the funding programme will be the future CEF2 Regulation, on which preliminary agreement was reached between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on 12 March 2021 and which still has to be formally adopted by both EU institutions. (source)

European Commission non-paper

In December 2019, the European Commission published a non-paper that contains strategic priorities for the implementation of CEF2 Digital as a co-financing instrument. Accordingly, there are to be two pillars of funding: the deployment of 5G infrastructure (pillar 1) and EU cross-border data infrastructures (pillar 2).

The following funding actions are proposed for the individual pillars:

Pillar 1 (around 75 % of the budget):

  • 5G corridors along major transport routes (road, rail, inland waterways), particularly for connected and automated driving
  • 5G communities with gigabit connectivity for socio-economic drivers
  • 5G4EU” projects with 5G infrastructure for local 5G applications in cities and municipalities

Pillar 2 (around 25 % of the budget)

  • Strategic terabit connectivity for high-performance computing (HPC)
  • Strategic backbone networks for pan-European and sustainable cloud federations
  • Submarine connectivity of strategic importance
  • Operational digital platforms associated with transport or energy infrastructure
  • Synergy projects

The Technical Annex to the non-paper contains, inter alia, more detailed information on potential beneficiaries and pre-conditions for participation in the individual funding actions. The European Commission invites stakeholders to provide further feedback.

Stakeholders/projects

Stakeholders and project initiatives are invited to check whether they are eligible to receive financial assistance under CEF2 Digital and to prepare appropriately for future calls. Information on planned infrastructure projects that might be eligible to receive financial assistance under CEF2 Digital can be sent to the Ministry at cef-digital@bmdv.bund.de.

Up-to-date information on CEF2 Digital and future calls are regularly published here.

Please send enquiries to the BMDV to the following address: cef-digital@bmdv.bund.de.