2 billion Euros of EU funds for cycling – what does it mean on the ground?

CIE funds essential lobbying work to get more EU funds spent on cycling – but how does the funding actually get spent? Our target to raise another 2 billion for new infrastructure, who do we work with to make it happen?

One of the key campaigns funded by our members is our shared ambition to see much more of the funding that the EU gives to local and regional governments spent on cycling.

This can deliver much-needed infrastructure in regions where there is limited cash for new developments, but it can also provide the capacity building funding needed to develop projects and proposals on the ground.

Cycling Industries Europe’s predecessor body (2012-2018) was the Cycling Industry Club, which donated industry funds to the European Cyclists’ Federation to enable them to recruit and retain experts in EU funding, plus additional experts in economics and infrastructure to make sure local partners had access to the relevant expertise to make their case for cycling.

And it is working – in June the EU officials responsible for tracking regional funding told ECF and CIE that the expected expenditure of regional funds by the EU was well above the expected budget, growing from €1.5billion to an estimated €2 billion in the current EU budget period. A lot of this growth can be tracked back to support for education and information for local project managers on how to get cycling related funds out of EU budgets.

CIE has now been created to open up new lobby activities for industrial development and innovation, but we also continue to part-fund some of ECF’s essential work because we recognise that local projects are important to create new cyclists on a daily basis, leading to more bike sales and a healthier cycling industry.

We really liked this article on the ECF web site which provides an example of how just one project makes up a piece of the funding jigsaw on the Italian – Austrian border. Pro-byke: how EU funding helps promote everyday cycling border regions

For the next EU budget cycle we want to see the EU’s expenditure on cycling double again – which could mean another €2billion drawn down by projects like Pro-byke.

Join CIE today so your company can do its share – good for cycling, good for society, good for the planet, good for business.