East Gate Territorial Cooperation Grouping Launched in Bucharest

Valentin Evstatiev, BTA correspondent Martina Gancheva

From left: the national flags of Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine (BTA Photo/Ilko Valkov)

Bucharest,

19.03.2026 16:17

(BTA)

The East Gate European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, comprised of Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria, was established in Bucharest on Thursday. The event took place in the Nicolae Iorga Hall of the Romanian Parliament and brought together more than 150 representatives of local and regional authorities.

Addressing the event, Bulgarian Ambassador to Romania Radko Vlaykov recalled the period when Bulgaria and Romania were countries taking their first steps on their European path. When the two neighbours joined the EU in 2007, Bulgaria’s GDP per capita was 35% of the average level in the bloc, and Romania’s was 38%. “We were far below the average level. Now this indicator in Romania is about 70%, and in Bulgaria it is about 67-68%. In other words, from January 1, 2007, to the present, the two countries have halved their gap with the EU. And this happened thanks to the EU. And we proved that even before joining the EU we had already been loyal partners to one another,” Vlaykov said.

He noted that back then, there were regional initiatives between Bulgaria, Romania and Greece similar to East Gate, but in his words they had neither a legal basis nor any practical value.

“In recent decades we have achieved very serious progress in regional cooperation. And what is happening today has a historic dimension, because it provides an additional European framework for the whole region linking the four countries. A region that is living through difficult times,” the diplomat said.

He reiterated Bulgaria's support for Ukraine. Discussing the ongoing war there, Vlaykov said: “This is a battle of the Ukrainian people not only to preserve the integrity of Ukraine but for the path of the whole of Europe, of the European Union.”

He added that Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, to varying degrees, are victims of hybrid attacks, fake news, and attacks and manipulation on social networks.

At the end of his speech, Vlaykov said the languages of the four countries should be working languages of the newly created East Gate grouping, which should be reflected in its statute.

/KK/