Politics Thwarts Balkan Transport Revolution
Thanks to regional rivalries and European inconsistency, the dream of a modern transport system for the Balkans is going nowhere fast.
By Polina Slavcheva in Sofia, Thessaloniki, Komotini, Xanthi, Pristina, Skopje, Tirana, Paris and Brussels
Ever since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire resulted in the fragmentation of the Balkan semi-peninsula into several new countries, the region’s transport system has been in crisis, a victim of under-investment and political manipulation.
The results are there for all to see: potholed roads, an absence of vital bridges and trains that crawl. Railways planned back in the 19th century remain incomplete. Air links are poor, serving mainly to connect Balkan states to Western Europe rather than to each other.
With Brussels pushing for the economic integration of the Balkans through a network of major transport corridors, the impetus for change has grown, especially since Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union.
But regional jealousies are still sabotaging progress. Serbia’s hostility to the Kosovo Albanians has prompted it to undermine plans to develop a corridor leading to Durres in Albania; Greece’s determination to capture the lion’s share of traffic running from Asia Minor into Europe, by developing its own east-west highway through northern Greece, has slowed work on a vital north-south highway leading from Greece to Bulgaria; and Macedonia can’t make up its mind whether to concentrate on links with northern neighbour Serbia or Bulgaria to the east.
With even the most developed European countries still susceptible to putting politics above economic rationale, a Balkan transport revolution is a tall order. But with the EU keen to hand more and more responsibility for the process to the region, the onus is on its leaders to start working together to improve travel and trade conditions.
Meantime, scenes like those on the Macedonian-Bulgarian border are all too common, where, as one Bulgarian worker put it, the speed is so low “you can get off, pick mushrooms, and then catch up with the train again”.
