site.btaEC Encourages Romania and Bulgaria to Submit Fast Danube 2 Project

European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said on Tuesday in Strasbourg that Romania and Bulgaria should submit a project for the Fast Danube 2 programme by the end of the September call for proposals, which has a deadline of January, and for which funding is available and positively considered by The European Commission, said the Agerpress agency.

The goal of the Fast Danube 2 project is to ensure navigability on the Danube throughout the year. This was one of the topics that were discussed by the European Commissioner at the meeting in Bulgaria last week within the framework of an initiative to improve connectivity with Romania and Greece along the North-South axis, the agency recalled.

Valean recalled to Romanian journalists that within the regulation framework on the revision of European transport routes and maps, the EU has introduced an additional corridor to the existing ones, namely the North-South corridor connecting the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Romania, Bulgaria and Greece obviously fall into this corridor, and enhanced cooperation between these three countries for connectivity has been discussed.

Valean added that, traditionally, Romania's connectivity to the south, with Bulgaria, has always been insufficient, since in the years before joining the EU, and after, the focus was on East-West connectivity.

The EU Commissioner stressed that this is an opportunity to strengthen the connections along the North-South axis, which would be very useful for both countries from the point of view of military mobility and connection between these three seas which are the entry point for European cargo and transport corridors. At the meeting in Bulgaria last week Valean insisted on the "honest participation of Romania and Bulgaria in the Fast Danube project”.

She pointed out that the European Commission is waiting for the joint project of Bulgaria and Romania, because there is funding for it.

Valean said that the first project under the programme was not completed in practice due to a lack of an environmental impact study, and indicated that she had discussed this matter with Bulgarian officials at the meeting in Varna and added that she was ready to send experts to the Commission to mediate on the completion of the first project Fast Danube 1 and on the preparation of the Fast Danube 2 project.

The European Transport Commissioner added that Romania has submitted a project for a "road bridge with an option for a railway line" near Giurgiu and Ruse. A project for a railway line from Craiova to Calafat is also expected.

Valean  noted that there is a bridge there, but the access roads in Romania and Bulgaria do not meet the standards. She pointed out that it is important to propose such a project because there is a financing line provided for these cross-border projects and this will represent "almost the last opportunity" for Romania and Bulgaria to secure funds for the connectivity between Calafat and Vidin.