European Union has paid out 527 million € for transport projects to the Western Balkans, but there are few trains that will run on the rails supposed to be built till 2030.
The European Court of Auditors recently published the special report 16/2026 “Western Balkans Investment Framework: EU support addresses connectivity needs, but integration into the core transport network is slow”. West Balkan countries are unlikely to complete their sections due to delays, weak oversight and concerns over long-term sustainability.
The 2030 TEN-T core network completion deadline will not be met, and there are further significant cost increases. ECA cites immature project selection and shortcomings in supervision while monitoring, reporting and visibility of EU support are insufficient. The auditors also raise doubts about the sustainability of several projects, for example due a lack of funds to continue with the investments and insufficient maintenance.
The Commission should improve the selection, monitoring and sustainability of projects, and enhance the visibility of EU-funded transport projects in the region.
The EU has allocated 2,7 billion € from 2015 to mid-2025 of which 527 million are paid out to address the infrastructure gap in the Western Balkans. This concerns rail, water ways and roads.
North Macedonia had 292,9 million € allocated and 84,6 million € paid. For this country, ECA found that the core rail corridor VIII was not connected (to Bulgaria) and no agreement was reached to do so when the grant was approved. ECA also found that the project approved ranked very low in the national priority list.
The report was made in addition to the report “EU transport infrastructure“. This report covers the EU. The report is an update of a 2020 report. The outlook in 2025 is worse than in 2020, and falls far short of what was initially envisaged. Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is the backbone of the Europe-wide network for road, rail, inland waterway, sea and air transport. Megaprojects – large transport projects, often with a cross-border dimension – are key to achieving better connectivity across Europe, removing bottlenecks, and facilitating cross-border mobility. In 2013, the EU member states agreed that the core TEN-T network should be ready by 2030.
ECA also noted that the recommendation from the last report to require better analysis before deciding to provide EU co-funding for mega projects was not accepted and implemented.
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