On 1 April 1992, the project was added to the master plan of high-speed lines, in which it was classified as a priority project. On 22 May 1992, France and Germany agreed to a Franco-German high-speed line consisting of a northern branch through Saarbrücken and Mannheim and a southern branch through Strasbourg and Karlsruhe. The same year a similar memorandum of understanding was signed between the transport ministers of France and Luxembourg. At the European Council meeting in Essen in 1994, the LGV Est project was reaffirmed as a priority trans-European transport project.