The former Dutch transport minister, Karla Peijs, is the long-awaited TEN-T coordinator who will be in charge of fostering the 2 inland waterway priority projects of the trans-European transport networks:
- Project No. 18 – Rhine/Meuse-Main Danube
- Project No. 30 – Seine-Scheldt

In her first public performance at the Danube symposium of 13-14 September in Ybbs, Karla Peijs declared her passion and respect for rivers. She is determined to put all her experience at the service of the development of a sustainable inland waterways transport system integrated into the trans-European transport network.

The European coordinator acts as a facilitator in the name of and on behalf of the European Commission whose main tasks are:
 involve all relevant public and private stakeholders in the process;
 examine and propose to use at their best extent the tools that the EU provides in terms of funding infrastructure and innovation;
 promote joint methods for the evaluation of projects and advise project promoters on the financial package for the projects;
 draw up a report every year on progress achieved in the implementation of the projects.

The first coordinators were appointed in 2005 for a number of railway projects and for the implementation of the European rail traffic management system (ERTMS). They are high-level personalities with proven abilities to mobilise all stakeholders and appropriate funds for cross-border projects. With only 1.5% of the EU TEN-T budget allocated to inland waterways in the period 1994-2004, a dedicated European coordinator can give an important push to remedy the huge maintenance backlog in inland waterways.

≡ EU press release