Position Paper: The Next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034

As the European Union shapes its post-2027 budgetary architecture, UITP has published a new position paper calling for a bold and future-ready Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) that puts local public transport at the heart of Europe’s climate, competitiveness, and social goals.

With city budgets under pressure and the need for climate action growing, the next MFF must prioritise sustainable urban, local and regional passenger transport as a long-term investment in people and the planet.

Read our Policy Paper

Europe’s ecological and digital transitions hinge on the successful transformation of its mobility systems. Local public transport is not only an enabler of cleaner air and lower emissions – it is a critical social infrastructure.

To meet the challenges of the coming decades, the next MFF must reflect an integrated, place-based, and people-centred approach to transport investment. UITP stands ready to work with the European Commission, Member States, and local authorities to ensure the MFF 2028-2034 becomes an engine of inclusive and sustainable mobility!

• Invest in what delivers: Public transport is efficient, climate-friendly, and socially fair.
• Enable territorial cohesion: Every citizen – urban or rural – must benefit from EU mobility investments.
• Prioritise long-term over ad hoc: Stability in funding enables strategic planning and efficient delivery.
• Connect the dots: A Europe-wide mobility strategy needs a Europe-wide financial backbone.
• Climate is about people: Green transition is an investment opportunity where social shift towards economic and ecological fairness must be guaranteed.
• Build on high return on investment: Public transport projects deliver long-term economic growth far exceeding the initial spending, with up to a fourfold return on investment (RoI).
• Move beyond technology: Focusing solely on electrification can divert attention from the broader shifts needed to tackle the climate crisis – innovation alone cannot preserve current patterns of excessive energy use and car reliance, without demanding real behavioural change.
• Positive externalities rule: Investments must factor in that public transport generates a wide array of societal, environmental and economic benefits – known as positive externalities – that extend well beyond the mobility sector. For all 12 major benefits and accompanied case studies, visit ptbenefits.uitp.org

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have strained city budgets and eroded fare revenues, leaving public transport operators and authorities under financial pressure.

At the same time, the need for ambitious climate action, rising energy costs, and geopolitical uncertainties have made the role of EU co-financing even more vital.