A new north-south highway on the eastern edge of the EU aims to be the entrance to Europe for goods from China

Seven European countries have joined forces for the Via Carpatia project , a highway that will run from Lithuania to Romania and Greece, increasing the interconnectedness of the EU's eastern region. Its promoters envisage that this infrastructure will be integrated into the new Silk Road, as a gateway to Europe for goods arriving from China and the rest of Asia.

▲Polish highway section that will be part of the Via Carpatia project [Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad Oddział w Rzeszowie].

article / Paula Ulibarrena

Via Carpatia is a European route; it is actually an ambitious interstate highway project that will link the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. The route will start in Lithuania, in the city of Kaunas; it will then continue through Poland, following the Bialystok-Lublin-Rzeszów route; it will then enter Slovakia to cover the Presov-Kosz section, and in Hungary it will run through Miskolc-Debrecen.

On the Romanian territory, the route will be divided in two directions, one towards the port of Constanta, on the Oradea-Arad-Timisoara-Lugoj-Deva-Sibiu-Pitesti-Bucarest-Constanta route, and the other entering Bulgaria through the future bridge over the Danube at Calafat-Vidin, with the possibility of extending the project to Greece, in the Mediterranean, at the southern border of the European Union.

The Via Carpatia project was launched C 2006, when the transport ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary signed a joint declaration to extend the trans-European transport network by creating a route to connect these four states along a north-south axis. In 2010, the project was also joined by Romania, Bulgaria and Greece to extend the new route through their respective territories.

Andrzej Adamczyk, Poland's Minister of Public Works, said in May 2017 that the total route of such infrastructure in Poland, comprising 600 kilometers, will be completed by 2025. As he stated, Via Carpathia "will allow the full potential of the provinces it crosses to be developed, providing a boost for the poorer regions of eastern Poland and the economies of the area."

The purpose of the project is to promote the economic development of the region, providing facilities for the development of small and medium business and the creation of technology parks, which should contribute to the creation of employment and enhance research and innovation.

This initiative currently reinforces other policies that also goal to development infrastructures in Eastern Europe, such as the 3 Seas Initiative. But it also opens the door to other more ambitious projects, such as the 16+1 and the new Silk Road, both launched by the People's Republic of China.

Connection with China

The 16+1 mechanism is a Chinese initiative aimed at intensifying and expanding cooperation with 11 EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and 5 Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia) in the subject of investment, transport, finance, science, Education and culture. In the framework the initiative, China has defined three possible priority areas for economic cooperation: infrastructure, high technologies and green technologies.

The Riga Declaration, a document issued in November 2017 at the China-ECO summit, sets the roadmap for such cooperation. In the Latvian capital, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the leaders of Central and Eastern European countries agreed to enhance internship cooperation and increase people-to-people exchanges. In particular, the leaders reaffirmed their desire to achieve effective connectivity between ports on the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Sea, through roads and the use of inland waterways.

"The Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea port cooperation will be a new engine for China-ECO cooperation," said Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher Liu Zoukiu, who added that the combination of Chinese equipment, European technology and ECO markets will be a great model for cooperation between the Asian country and these 16 nations.

Trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries reached $56.2 billion in 2015, up 28 percent from 2010. Chinese investment in these 16 nations exceeded $5 billion, while in the opposite direction investment was $1.2 billion.

The data also show that the issue of freight train lines between China and Europe has risen to 39 since connections began in 2011. 16 Chinese cities regularly operate these convoys to a dozen European cities. Precisely Beijing's interest in the CEE countries lies in the fact that they are Europe's gateway to the new Silk Road.

The European Gateway to the New Silk Road

The 21st Century Silk Road, which the Chinese government has dubbed One Belt One Road (OBOR), is not an institution with clearly defined rules, but rather a strategic vision: it alludes to the ancient Silk Road, the commercial and cultural link between East and West for more than two millennia. The new route aims to be a connectivity network composed of maritime and overland economic corridors linking China and the rest of Asia with the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In this way, OBOR contact continents, oceans, regions, countries, cities, international and regional organizations.

The new diplomatic language appears as a seductive tool of Chinese soft power, exported through the routes of trade and diplomacy that reach the gates of Europe. Evoking the historical framework of harmonious coexistence and mutual cultural enrichment, Chinese officialdom defines the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" as fundamental values of OBOR: (1) mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity; (2) mutual agreement of non-aggression; (3) mutual agreement of non-intervention in internal affairs; (4) equality and mutual benefit; (5) peaceful coexistence.

China seeks to diversify its trade routes and partners, opening up new consumer markets. At the same time, it is securing supplies of energy and raw materials. Finally, it is expanding its logistics structure and building a China-centric trade network .

Beijing created in 2014 a state investment fund, the Silk Road Fund, with a capital of US$40 billion, earmarked for One Belt, One Road investments. China insists that such financial institutions are not intended to replace existing ones, but to complement and collaborate with them in a spirit of inclusiveness and mutual benefit. However, voices from the United States and the European Union have raised some fears.

U.S. and U.S. suspicions

U.S. analysts speak of the Chinese European Century (and warn that as investment and trade with Europe grows, so will Beijing's influence on European policies. In fact, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) already has funds of $100 billion, or 50% of the World Bank's capital.

The 16+1 platform was launched to the chagrin of the EU, which was not consulted on the matter beforehand. Brussels observes a dependency status on the part of some of the continent's poorest countries, caused by a trade asymmetry in favor of China: trains arrive in Warsaw with tons of Chinese products, but return half-empty. The creation of infrastructures and new production and distribution centers for Chinese products sometimes progresses beyond the control of the EU. Consequently, EU legislative compliance and even European unity itself may be affected. 

For the most part, the national interests of European countries seem to be dominated by the pure logic of Economics and lack strategic vision. They have so far made a common and coordinated EU policy towards OBOR impossible. In the absence of unity, Europe is throwing stones at itself and ironically applying to itself the effective "divide and rule" strategy described by the Chinese philosopher Sunzi 2,500 years ago. 

New international order

The international order is changing: OBOR, which in paternalistic embrace now encompasses almost all European countries, is presenting itself as the Chinese alternative to the Western model that had hitherto dominated the world.

The US is being replaced as the world's leading Economics and losing its political hegemony to the rise of China. This is demonstrated by the reactions of Washington's most faithful allies in Europe, London and Berlin, in joining the OBOR initiative without great hesitation and despite US warnings.

China proposes to create together with Europe a new international economic and financial order. The most notorious milestone of this close partnership is the Chinese injection of up to €10 billion into the EFSI, a decision agreed between Beijing and Brussels in April 2016, making China the largest investor in the so-called Juncker Plan. Together, they can generate economic growth and employment creation by building and modernizing infrastructure networks that improve intra-European connectivity. This can facilitate the opening up of European products and services for export to new markets and improve their entrance conditions to China's own market. Europe can benefit from improved connectivity with other hitherto remote regions.