Bulgaria and Greece will seek funding from all possible international sources, including the European Union and NATO, to improve their transport communications, according to information provided to Euractiv Bulgaria by the government in Sofia.
At the beginning of last week, Defense Minister Todor Tagarev announced that Bulgaria would invest €6 billion in civilian infrastructure, which would also support military purposes, given the risks of Russian aggression in Ukraine. However, the minister did not specify where the country would find the funding.
The projects include the construction of Transport Corridor No. 8 between the Albanian port of Durres and Varna, the largest Bulgarian city on the Black Sea. Another major project is the construction of a highway between the largest Romanian port of Constanta and Thessaloniki, which passes through the Bulgarian ports of Varna and Burgas.
These transport lines are considered essential for the security of the eastern flank, taking into account plans to deploy a NATO brigade in Bulgaria of more than 1,500 soldiers.
When asked by Euractiv if there was a possibility that part of the funds for the transmission lines would be provided by the EU or NATO, the Bulgarian government did not deny this possibility and added that Bulgaria and Greece were working under an agreement of common interest. .
“The Bulgarian government is working towards reaching a complex agreement with Greece regarding mutual economic interests. Once this is finalized, all possible tools will be used to provide financing for it, as it is a complex, wide-ranging and multi-component issue,” the Bulgarian government’s response to Euracitv said.
The war in Ukraine made the road corridor from the Greek city of Thessaloniki via Kavala, Alexandroupolis, Burgas and Varna to the Romanian port of Constanta particularly important, with plans to extend the corridor to Moldova.
Last week, Bulgarian Defense Chief Admiral Emil Eftimov noted that these roads are important for the rapid deployment of NATO forces. According to Euractiv information, despite their strategic importance, projects can be implemented in a period of up to six years.
Part of these corridors is the 113-kilometre Black Sea highway between the Bulgarian cities of Varna and Burgas, which, until the beginning of the war in Ukraine, was not considered an important European transport corridor and had no chance of funding from Brussels.
The Black Sea Highway, which has been discussed in Bulgaria since the 1970s, remains without construction documents.
In April 2024, a contract is planned to be concluded to develop the environmental assessment, the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency told Euroactiv.
The environmental assessment is expected to be ready in 2025, and if there is no legal appeal, construction of the highway could begin at the end of 2025.
The other major project is the expansion of the road between the Romanian border and Varna, which is about 90 kilometers long, and then the road from the future Black Sea highway to the border with Greece.
(Emilia Milcheva, Krasin Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
