Skopje, 30 June 2025 (MIA) - Macedonia and Bulgaria will hold a meeting on the railway Corridor VIII tunnel in Brussels on July 16. We have agreed in principle that the tunnel is jointly built by EU grant funds, as a symbol of the countries' ties, says Deputy PM and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski.

Minister Nikoloski told Sitel that an agreement was reached with Bulgarian counterpart Grozdan Karadjov over the weekend in Turkey on the three issues that the Macedonian side put forward over the railway's construction, noting that an engineering problem turned into a political one, something that should not be allowed to happen in the future.

"A tunnel must begin from somewhere but also end," says Nikoloski and expresses regret that certain structures in the previous Bulgarian governments created a problem.

According to him, the Government said three things from the very beginning - the link with Bulgaria must go through a jointly-built tunnel, Macedonia and Bulgaria must finish their part of the deal, and that Skopje wants to connect to Sofia and from there to Burgas and Varna.

"We got the answer to all three questions. There is already an agreement that the tunnel must be built by both sides, and experts from Macedonia, Bulgaria and the European Commission are set to meet on the issue in Brussels on July 16. Second, a joint declaration will also be signed and its drafting will be done as soon as possible. And third, Bulgaria has clearly said it will invest EUR 1.5 billion on the route from Sofia to the Gyueshevo border crossing, which is a significant promise that differs a lot from what was said before," says Nikoloski.

Regarding the railway leading to Bulgaria, the first section from Kumanovo to Beljakovce has been put into operation, the second one from Beljakovce to Kriva Palanka is currently in the pipeline, while the construction of the third one from Kriva Palanka to the Deve Bair border crossing is yet to begin.

MIA file photo