The leaders of the Baltic countries called on the European Union to ensure the financing of one of the largest infrastructure projects of the region - Rail Baltica railway line, which should tie with high-speed trains with the rest of Europe. To achieve this goal, they are ready to even block the Distribution of the EU financial assistance to fight the effects of a pandemic.
"Rail Baltica is a strategic project of the EU infrastructure, which is necessary to maintain the action of the common market, so for this requires proper political attention and the corresponding financing - the case of the Council of EU leaders agreed," President Lithuanian Guitanas President of Bested said.
He noted that, together with the premieres of Estonia and Latvia, she had previously sent a letter to the premiere of the Cat Presiding in EU by EU with a call to guarantee the financing of the railway. Earlier, the European Parliament questioned the need to allocate the planned 1.4 billion euros for this project.
As the POLITICO portal has noted, if the money is not allocated, the Baltic countries are threatened to block the borrowing to the European Commission in international financial markets, which will allow EU countries to assist in the fight against the effects of a pandemic.
Baltic Dogs
Although the Rail Baltica project received the EU approval at the highest levels, its implementation still looks foggy. Initially it was assumed that the road that should connect Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, Vilnius, Warsaw and Berlin, will be built by the end of 2025 for 5.8 billion euros.
However, the project was initially accompanied by scandals: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia could not agree, who should manage the construction of the highway on their territory. The most problematic part of the road from the Lithuanian border to the Polish city of Bialystok is 204 km long. Almost half of this route needs complete reconstruction, but Poland still practically does not allocate funds for these purposes.
Last year, the State Control of Latvia concluded that the implementation of the Rail Baltica project was conducted with a violation of previously approved schedule. The State Control of Estonia noted that in the same republic, the estimate of the creation of Rail Baltica increased by 13.9% compared with the approved budget. Latvian Minister Latvia Talis Linkites officially acknowledged that the project will be completed with a delay of at least 2-2.5 years.
At the same time, the revision of the European Accounting Chamber previously found that Rail Baltica practically does not have chances to become economically paid off. A serious blow to the path of the track also caused recent events in Belarus, which was questioned by the planned transit of Chinese goods to Europe planned through Minsk. The cost of the grand railway project has already grew almost to 7 billion euros.
However, Rail Baltica still remains even important importance - military. The Baltic countries have repeatedly emphasized that they would like to be able to quickly transfer allies to the region. Better the speed railway line this task will not solve this task.