The European Commission gave details today of a €62 billion plan for transport and research projects which it hopes will revive sluggish growth in the bloc.
The list of 56 projects include a railway connecting Belfast and Cork, a railway connecting Brussels to Strasbourg and several infrastructure projects in future EU members in Central and Eastern Europe.
Financing for the schemes would be 60 per cent from public funds and 40 per cent from private sources. Growth in the European Union has been struggling to catch up with the United States and the Commission's plan is aimed at mobilising investment in plans that will create jobs and boost the economy.
"We will start immediately with these projects, some of which have been in the works since almost before the birth of Christ," Commission Mr President Romano Prodi told reporters.
"It is a catalyst which the European Union urgently needs to restart growth," he added at a news conference as he unveiled the so-called "quickstart" list.
A list of the projects can be seen at http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/prodi/index_en.htm.
The selected transport projects are part of a broader list of 29 major EU transport axes drawn up by former EU Commissioner Mr Karel Van Miert which require total investment of €220 billion by 2020 to be completed.
Mr Prodi said the Commission's list included 31 priority transport plans, 17 energy projects and eight in high-speed communications, research and development and innovation.
The transport projects included a high-speed railway link between Madrid and Lisbon and a rail tunnel through Mont Cenis in the Alps along the Turin-Lyon rail line and a rail tunnel through the Brenner Pass connecting Italy to Austria.
Ambitious plans for a bridge between the Italian mainland and Sicily, backed by Italy, were not on the list, although satellite positioning system Galileo and research plan for nanotechnologies and hydrogen power were.
The projects are expected to start between 2004 and 2006 and will benefit from EU funds, European Investment Bank (EIB) long-term loans and other government funds.