Under the Three Seas Initiative in 2021, Bulgaria aims to strengthen regional cooperation and economic development between the 12 EU Member States around the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas by improving infrastructure links in transport, energy and digital communications. Bulgaria, which took over the coordinating role from Estonia in October 2020, plans to continue work on priority cross-border and regional projects, creating synergies with EU policies.
Key areas of work include strengthening the 3SI investment fund by attracting private investment, developing strategic partnerships and new peer-to-peer links, increasing energy security and diversification, and developing innovative solutions for sustainable transport, energy and digital connectivity.
Main objective:
Further establish the “3 Seas” as a platform for cooperation aimed at enhanced convergence and convergence within the EU, while developing its strategic transatlantic dimension. Follow-up on the ambitious path of unlocking the capacity of the initiative as a genuine tool for regional cooperation and accelerated economic development through improved energy, transport and digital connectivity networks.
ABC+De
This is an ambitious private infrastructure project initiated by the Bulgarian company Large Infrastructure Projects, which we advise and which is owned by the engineer Rumen Markov. The project involves the construction of two cargo ports – one off the Aegean Sea in Greece, near Alexandroupolis, and another on the Baltic Sea in Poland, between Gransk and Kaliningrad, connected by a motorway, high-speed rail, fibre optics, 5G and all the accompanying logistics and infrastructure elements. The facility will pass through six NATO/EU Member States, with a possible extension to Cyprus and Scandinavia. The project will reduce the Suez-Baltica route by some 5,000 km and speed up transport by three weeks, avoiding Gibraltar. The estimated cost of the project is around €40 billion, with an estimated construction time of 5 to 8 years. The ABC+De project aims to compete with the Sino-Russian expansion in the region, while offering dual benefits for NATO and the EU. After Covid-19, this large-scale project could be a priority to boost Europe’s development. Bringing in major private partners and defending the project to the European Commission and the European Parliament is necessary, and several Bulgarian MEPs have already been engaged to lobby in its favour
