Latvia seeks additional EU funding for Rail Baltica project

European Parliament member Roberts Zīle said Latvia has so far relied mainly on the Connecting Europe Facility and a small amount from the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism for the Rail Baltica railway project. He urged the government to look for more financing in other EU programmes, noting that the new EU multi‑annual budget earmarks about €50 billion for the project’s base fund, while the Baltic states would need roughly €10 billion – an amount unlikely to be secured as a fifth of the total.

Zīle pointed out that Latvia has not yet drawn all of the roughly €2 billion of cohesion money available to it, and warned that if an agreement on the remaining funds is not reached by August, the money will simply disappear. He added that Latvia would not face major sanctions if the Rail Baltica deadline of 2030 is missed, but the country must demonstrate progress to continue accessing EU support. Failure to secure the needed funds could hinder the nation’s ability to obtain EU financing for other large‑scale projects.