EU countries in the Eastern Balkans strengthen their relations in 2025

Days before the New Year, Radio Bulgaria sought the opinion of journalists and experts on the most important event in the south-eastern corner of Europe, assessed through the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and its neighbours.

Bulgaria and Greece confirm the end of all post-war reparations

At the backdrop of military actions in the Black Sea, the EU countries – Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, as well as Turkey, which is a NATO ally, are actively working to preserve peace and understanding in the Eastern Balkans. Prof. Yura Konstantinova from the Institute of Balkan Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences points out that the most important event in Bulgarian-Greek relations in 2025 is that Athens and Sofia jointly declared that they no longer have mutual reparation claims and obligations stemming from the past two world wars in the 20th century. From Athens, where she is working on her latest book on Greek-Bulgarian relations, Prof. Konstantinova told Radio Bulgaria:

"In my opinion, the most important event in bilateral Bulgarian-Greek relations in 2025 is the signing on May 2 of a joint declaration by which Bulgaria and Greece confirm that on July 9, 2024, the 60-year term of Bulgaria's obligation to supply Greece with regulated water from the Arda River expired. Let us recall that this Bulgarian obligation stems from the agreement signed on July 9, 1964 for the settlement of financial issues and the development of economic cooperation between the then People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Greece. On the basis of this agreement, the Bulgarian side paid reparations dating before World War I to World War II, including counter-claims that arose before the signing of the agreement. Thus, for a period of 60 years, Bulgaria has supplied Greece with water from the Arda River for the irrigation needs of Greek agriculture in the amount of 186 million cubic meters per year," the researcher says.

The joint declaration signed on May 2, 2025, confirmed that this Bulgarian obligation has been fulfilled. With the same declaration, Bulgaria says it would continue to provide water from the Arda River to the Greek side over the next 5 years, but in a volume with parameters and according to a schedule agreed on an annual fee basis, the professor recalls.

In 2026, Prof. Konstantinova expects to see what the practical steps will be for the implementation of the so-called vertical axis, which should connect the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. A memorandum signed in Brussels between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania at the end of 2025 opens up opportunities for accelerated planning, financing and construction of new railway, road, water and energy facilities connecting the three countries. Despite the expressed political will for concrete actions, Prof. Yura Konstantinova said that she would not commit to predicting whether this would lead to the opening of the already built new border crossing between Rudozem and Xanthi, which remains closed.

Romania, Bulgaria and Greece begin strategic connection

"Since the war in Ukraine has begun, relations between Bulgaria and Romania have been on an upward trend and it is no coincidence that in 2023 they were elevated to the level of strategic partnership," says journalist and analyst Vladimir Mitev from the Romanian editorial office of Radio Bulgaria, also author of the blog "The Bridge of Friendship".

"Last year, an important step was that the two countries were fully accepted into the Schengen area. This year what seems most important to me comes again at the end of the year - on December 3, a memorandum was signed in Brussels between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, which envisages the development of the transport corridor between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. In Bulgaria and in the region in general, this is seen as a breakthrough, as construction of new bridges is planned. A more significant and systematic development of all kinds of infrastructure connections is planned and this will probably be the next step forward in relations in our region," Mitev says and adds:

"I don't see anything strange that there will be a second bridge built near Ruse, even though there is one. The existing bridge is currently quite overloaded and the traffic has been increasing for years, especially after we joined the Schengen area. I think that Romania and Bulgaria had a dispute for a long time, not much commented on in media, but our northern neighbour had claims that Bulgaria was not dredging the Danube enough and that it should join the FAST Danube 2 project, which also happened in 2025. We see that now at the end of the year things are getting in order. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that our Euro-Atlantic partners really want the infrastructure in the region to develop and in this case this works for the benefit of everyone," Vladimir Mitev adds.  

The overview of relations between Bulgaria and its Balkan neighbours in 2025 continues on December 30 with comments on the most important bilateral events with Turkey, Serbia and North Macedonia, provided by journalist Mehmed Yumer, Dr. Biser Banchev and the doyen of the Bulgarian media community in North Macedonia, Vladimir Perev.