EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos has come to Sofia for an international ministerial conference on Corridor 8. "My vision is that one day the whole of the Western Balkans will be part of our Europe," she said, according to Bulgaria's foreign ministry.
This report follows our earlier story on the Sofia conference. The government approved a decree for the event and said it would be held on 7 and 8 October.
Kos said Brussels, Sofia, the Western Balkans and EU member states are working together on this vision. She said the goal today is better links for the people of tomorrow.
More than 130 projects are under way in the region, including new roads, railways and better border crossings. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro all help link the region. Kos said EU membership will change what border crossings and transport links mean, because Europe will then be one.
Corridor 8 links the Adriatic and the Black Sea through Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, with road and rail links. The rail link between Bulgaria and North Macedonia is one of the main parts not yet finished. Bulgaria still has about 2.4 km of track to build, from Gyueshevo to the border. The corridor is also linked to security and to military mobility between the Black Sea and the Adriatic.
In November 2025, Sofia and Skopje signed an agreement on a rail tunnel across the border.
"Bulgaria is a gateway to Europe for the Black Sea region, and for Turkey too," Kos added.
Follow-up: Shushkov and Marta Kos meet at Kapitan Andreevo border crossing