The EU Transport Council on Monday included the Sofia-Skopje-Durres-Bari route in the new "Western Balkans - Eastern Mediterranean" European Transport Corridor. The decision facilitates funding for relevant initiatives. "This is a major success for Bulgaria," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Aleksiev said in Brussels, emerging from the EU Transport Council meeting.
"Bulgaria was very active over the last four months in campaigning for a restart of the project. We did some hard lobbying," Aleksiev said. He thanked the Czech Presidency of the EU Council for what it did to ensure that Bulgaria's wish was granted.
Noting that transport connectivity is one of the most important elements of integration, he said: "I received much thanks from the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania for the battle which Bulgaria fought for the common good."
According to the Minister, Monday's decision makes the "Western Balkans - Eastern Mediterranean" European Transport Corridor complete. It will provide considerable added value for the EU in the Western Balkans region, particularly in the current complicated geopolitical situation, he said.
Aleksiev recalled that Bulgaria and Italy, as EU member states, and their Western Balkan partners Albania and North Macedonia adopted a joint declaration on November 25 confirming their shared commitment to build infrastructure along the Sofia-Skopje-Durres-Bari route as part of Pan-European Corridor 8.
On November 3, Aleksiev was in Athens to meet with Greece's Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis. The two agreed to step up work on another corridor of priority importance, known as Sea2Sea (between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea). They decided that the sides will draw up a joint application for a feasibility study for the Sea2Sea Corridor. The project will be financed by the Connecting Europe Facility. Its scope is yet to be specified after further talks with Greece.
/YV/
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