PM: New Highway to Better Lot of Bulgarians in Serbia

Bulgarian PM Borisov (left) and Serbian President Tadic in Belgrade Monday. Photo by BGNES

The construction and launch of the Sofia-Nis Highway is going to improve the economic situation of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia, according to PM Boyko Borisov.

The highway, which is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 10, will be opened on May 1, 2012, under the agreement made Monday in Belgrade between Bulgaria and Serbia as Borisov met with Serbian PM Mirko Cvetkovic and President Boris Tadic.

The prime minister said the construction of the 60-km section from Sofia to the Serbian border will probably cost some EUR 70-80 M, which Bulgaria could borrow or get from the state budget.

When asked about his position regarding Monday’s protests in Sofia of representatives of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia who protested against a statement of Bulgarian Parliament Chair Tsetska Tsacheva declaring full support for Serbia’s EU accession without even mentioning their plight, Borisov declared that the protests should not be against Tsacheva but against Bulgaria as a whole.

Generations of Bulgarian politicians are responsible for the situation of the people in the Western Outlands (i.e. the historic name of the Bulgarian-populated regions in Serbia), because they have not invested in helping these people to have an opportunity for movement, the Bulgarian Prime Minister said in a telephone conversation with Nova TV stressing the potential effects of the future highway.

The Sofia-Nis Highway would go through Tsaribrod (Dimitrovgrad) located on Serbian territory but the other major Bulgarian-populated town in Serbia, Bosilegrad, is located away from its route.

While in Belgrade on Monday, Borisov emphasized Serbia’s EU integration as the way to fix the problems of the Bulgarian minority there.

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