European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said that Bulgaria is Europe’s connectivity gateway and expressed confidence that the country would successfully host a summit on international connectivity. She was speaking on the sidelines of Wednesday’s sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Earlier in the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her annual State of the European Union address that a Regional Connectivity Summit would be organized with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria. She also announced a new connectivity project, the Middle Corridor, that will directly link the South Caucasus and Central Asia with the European market.
“Bulgaria has a natural position to be a link between the European Union and Central Asia because it lies exactly in this [Middle] Corridor. Many projects have been done in the past, like for instance in October I’m going to Istanbul where we will open the new railway connection between the Bulgarian border and Istanbul,” Kos told BTA. Trade routes in the north are limited because of the war in Ukraine, and now the same is happening in the south because of the war in Iran. Given that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a peace agreement, there is a real opportunity to develop the Middle Corridor, according to Kos. Asked if Bulgaria will manage hosting the summit on international connectivity, Kos said: “I have full trust in your government.”
Von der Leyen also said that through the Global Gateway initiative, the EU will seek to attract up to EUR 12 billion in public and private investment. In this connection, Kos told BTA that the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework will allocate new funding for projects of this kind.
“What we have seen today is there is a willingness of the governments to contribute. We established in June a special platform to connect governments, international financial institutions and private companies so when I speak about the money for the Connectivity Agenda, it is not just from public money – let’s say European or from the other governments – but also what private companies are willing to invest because they see the opportunity to earn money there too,” the European Commissioner said.
Kos said she was planning to visit Sofia in early October for a conference on Pan-European Corridor VIII, which connects the Adriatic Sea with the Black Sea – a project in which Bulgaria plays “a very important role”, in her words.
At a joint briefing for Bulgarian media with Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova, Kos noted that the Connectivity Agenda would seek to establish better links in trade, energy, transport and the digital sphere.
Kos said: “Bulgaria for me is Europe’s connectivity gateway, and whatever is done on the Middle Corridor that President von der Leyen spoke about today, Bulgaria is on that route.” She added that there are some specific projects, smaller projects in building roads, railway tracks and digital connections, but this should be put on a new level, more based on synergies, and also bringing in the interests of Bulgaria.
Asked by BTA how the announced initiative would help improve connectivity between the Western Balkan EU candidate countries and the EU, Kos said that borders do not help the connections among countries. “In Yugoslav times sometimes these connections were much easier, now we have many borders,” she said, adding that it was important to work to overcome these barriers.
Enlargement Commissioner Kos Calls Bulgaria “Europe’s Connectivity Gateway” 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-16 17:43:00
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