GYUESHEVO – The European Union (EU) supports strengthening cooperation between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). This was stated in the village of Gyueshevo, Bulgaria, by Valentina Superti, Director for the Western Balkans at the Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission (EC), after the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdán Karadzhov and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport of RNM Alexander Nikoloski signed a Transport Connectivity Agreement between the two countries.
The agreement for the preparation, construction, and operation of the cross-border railway tunnel between Bulgaria and RNM is important for both countries, as well as for the region, for the EU as a whole and for its member states, Superti pointed out. Together with its partners, the EU provides significant financial assistance for this important project. We rely on your leadership to ensure that the agreement will be effectively and timely implemented, she added.
Superti noted that the construction of the tunnel along Corridor 8 is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) – a leading initiative within the “Global Gateway” strategy, which will bring broad social and economic benefits to the region. This will improve transport services, expand access to the EU and the global market, and sustainable transport will strengthen the region’s competitiveness.
By signing this agreement, we are bringing to life a 138-year-old idea from the drawing of the first Balkan railway and the initiation of the connection between Sofia and Skopje, said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdán Karadzhov. He thanked the international partners and financial institutions, the ambassadors of the EU and NATO countries for the renewal of the project.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport of the Republic of North Macedonia, Alexander Nikoloski, emphasized that this is one of the most important transport corridors with strategic, economic, and geopolitical significance for the Balkans and all of Europe.
The cross-border tunnel is a key element of the transport corridor “Western Balkans – Eastern Mediterranean” and the strategic Corridor 8, the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport informed. Its realization will provide the missing railway connectivity between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia and will improve transport access between the Black Sea and the Adriatic.
Corridor 8 connects the Adriatic Sea with the Black Sea through Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Bulgaria, the ministry added. Minister Karadzhov explained that the railway part of Corridor 8 is approximately 1350 km long, of which 747 km are on Bulgarian territory, and in Bulgaria, only the last 2.4-kilometer border section between Gyueshevo and Deve Bair remains to be built. (06.11.2025)
