Transport and mobility lies at the heart of the European project. European transport projects directly selected and co-financed by the European Commission are funded under the EU budget sub-heading ‘Competitiveness for growth and jobs’. Most EU financing for transport projects, however, still comes from the Cohesion budget.

As the EU’s auditors, we also look ahead in order to help address key challenges facing the EU in future. In the years to come, the digital revolution will have a major impact on traffic flow, through its impact on logistics chains and changes in consumer behaviour. Transport infrastructure in Europe needs to be built, adapted and maintained to cope with the expected traffic flow. This will require substantial public investment in the years to come and new approaches to financing these investments. At the same time, environmentally friendly solutions, such as electric vehicles and ride-sharing technologies, will become more important and governments will need to adjust infrastructure and transport systems.

We will keep all these factors in mind when selecting our audit tasks and formulating recommendations for the future.