Sofia will host the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit on Thursday and Friday (July 8-9) at a very inconvenient time-just before the early elections in Bulgaria on Sunday. When local politics interfere with politics, things are not good.
Although Poland and Croatia officially launched 3SI in 2015, it is still regarded as an initiative favored by the United States.
It gathers 12 presidential EU countries, mainly from Eastern Europe (from north to south: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria), Baltic Sea, Adriatic The geographical space between the Asian Sea and the Black Sea.
When the Sofia Summit was held The Black Sea is becoming more and more dangerous.
3SI largely reflects China’s early initiative, namely 16+1, which aims to promote the “Belt and Road”.But now, with Joe Biden in Washington, 16+1 is no longer fashionable, and Some members have left.
3SI gave birth to geopolitics in 2017, when U.S. President Trump attends the Warsaw Summit After the tense NATO meeting two months ago, efforts were made to repair relations with the eastern wing of the European allies.
A year later in Bucharest, Trump’s Energy Secretary Rick Perry increased the energy dimension and some financing in order to reduce energy dependence on Russia.
This time, Biden is expected to give a video speech.
The Three Seas may become the Four Seas, because the President of Greece will participate in the Sofia Summit for the first time, which may indicate that Greece is interested in adding the Aegean Sea to this field.
In Bulgaria, geopolitics have always been divided. Most voters support the country’s Western tendencies, while others have called for a neutral stance or a closer relationship with Russia.
Before an election as important as Sunday, the deadlock is expected to be broken after a fruitless vote in April. Failed to produce a government coalition, Geopolitics is disrupting Bulgaria’s political arena.
However, although the geopolitical significance of 3SI may be exaggerated.
For anti-EU and pro-Russian political forces, such as Warren Sidrov’s Ataka, Kostadin Kstadinov’s Vazrazhdane (Baath Party) or former Prime Minister Jan Vidnov’s “Left Wing” “Choice”, 3SI is also a bonanza, allowing them to criticize the pro-the position of U.S. President Rumen Radef and mainstream parties.
Although none of these forces is expected to exceed the 4% threshold and enter parliament, this summit is an opportunity to “steal” votes from parties that may form a coalition government.
On the right-wing side, there are also critics who criticize Radev for not being pro-Western enough and resolutely anti-Russian, and are vague about 3SI’s goals.
Radev has always focused on the business opportunities that the plan can provide, capturing the buzzword of “connectivity” in the European Union.according to Bulgaria’s vision, 3SI is a platform that can strengthen cohesion and integration within the EU. The committee supports 3SI, and Vice President Margrethe Vestager is in Sofia.
Critics of Radev pointed out that some of the heads of state of the participating countries were absent. For example, Austria has a lower level of representation.
The pro-Radev commentator retorted that this is not a snub of the Bulgarian president. Austria is pro-Russian because it supports the Beixi 2 pipeline project. This criticism of course comes from Bulgaria, Under the leadership of its former prime minister Boyko Borisov, he has invested heavily in TurkStream, Another project favored by Gazprom.
For the public and politicians, 3SI is exactly what they want to see in it.
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Pay close attention, watch out, watch out…
- Vera Jourová, Vice Chairman of the Committee, speaks at the 2021 Hambach Democratic Dialogue.
- Vice President Dubravka Šuica spoke at the conference “Smart Village-A New Concept for Rural Development”.
- Commissioner Várhelyi visited Armenia.
Views are author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/ Benjamin Fox]
