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Good morning to all. Thank you for being here.

It is really my pleasure to welcome over 4500 participants to Connecting Europe Days.

Transport is at the very heart of everything that we do in Europe today.

It connects our people, our businesses, and our economies.

But Connecting Europe Day is not only about where Europe stands today.

It is about the European transport network that we need to build for tomorrow.

A European transport network where there are no missing links, no critical bottlenecks, and no internal borders holding back our connectivity,

a European network with faster and safer rail and roads, and more secure and competitive ports and airports.

This is how we will complete our trans-European transport network, and what matters.

Because the TNT is the backbone of the single market.

If we want a Europe that is more competitive, more resilient, and more secure,

we need to invest in the infrastructure that can make all this possible. Security. Is increasingly part of this equation.

Our transport infrastructure must be ready to serve people and businesses in peacetime.

But also to support Europe's defense and military mobility whenever it is needed. And this is why investments matter.

As the negotiations on the EU budget continue.

Connecting Europe Day will also make clear why we have proposed the €51.5 billion for the next Connecting Europe facility.

The program that we use to co-fund transport infrastructure projects. Because we need to connect Europe.

We need to strengthen Europe and we need to deliver fast.

Thank you very much again for being here today.

And I am pretty sure that today and tomorrow we will have very fruitful discussions together.

Thank you.