The environment in Bulgaria, which is on the threshold of becoming a EU member, opens up great opportunities for access to European funds. The latter, though, become accessible only after comprehensive feasibility studies, compliant to particular criteria. These criteria come through EU transport or regional policy and are applied with a view to the precise selection of projects on the basis of their relevance to European or national objectives because EU funding, no matter how large it could be, never covers 100% of the project costs.

Thus, we come to the identification of national priorities in compliance with all-European ones. In order to facilitate the access to EU funds, the national transport policy should be based upon the principles of the general European transport policy and to coordinate national priorities with EU-adopted priorities for correction of the misbalance within the transport sector. Nevertheless, we should elaborate our concepts in advance. My position is that feasibility studies, the preparation of documentation and the elaboration of design projects can and must be funded only by the national budget. To this end, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the National Railway Infrastructure Company envisage annual funds for studies and design work, including multi-optional technical and economic analyses, alternative specifications and the synthesis of optimum transport routes, maximum utilisation of current infrastructure capacities and construction of new infrastructure with minimum long-term investments. Such funds should be allocated not on the surplus principle but on the principle of expediency and consistency, because they are of ultimate importance as guarantees for the access to different funding sources – budget, credit or private capital.

The European Commission is ready to increase the direct subsidies to 20% of the overall investment amount, but the implementation of railway infrastructure projects demands significant funding, which in itself necessitates a larger contribution on the part of the State in the new member-countries (including Bulgaria). Therefore, the funds, allocated for studies and design work, related to the railway network, are of great significance for the further identification of the contribution ratio between diverse funding sources for the implementation of railway investment projects. The policy for investments in the Bulgarian railway network should be compliant with the strategic market objectives of the EU as regards its enlargement, namely the 30% market share of the railways in newly-acceded countries (the target being 35%), so that the very implementation of such studies facilitates the access to various programmes and funds, which can allocate finances for the preparation of investment projects, as well as the necessary accompanying steps in the political sphere. Let me highlight the major points, directly related to the allocation of funding for railway projects:

- Introduction of the principle ‘the user pays’ in parallel with the gradual internalisation of external costs for each transport mode;

- Introduction of infrastructure access charges with a view to the its optimisation, modernisation or identification of its alternatives;

- Achievement of a balanced mix of EU funds, national budgets and public-private partnerships;

- Implementation of a balance between urban and regional planning and funds for the development of secondary transport networks to improve the access to the Trans-European network.

Last but not least, I would like to consider a conclusion, which the reading audience must have already reached – the urgent establishment of national funds, supporting environmentally-sound alternatives for the current transport schemes, is of fundamental importance for the provision of funding for investment priorities. Therein I find the innovative approach to the process of searching for financial sources and to the design work. The examples show the utmost importance of these funds, especially in the cases when the infrastructure projects are under common management and are supported by a consistent transport policy. The accumulation of such funds could be implemented in various ways, in compliance with national characteristics, interests and capacities. In my opinion, the Association of Railway Construction Consultants, established in our country, can initiate the establishment of a National fund ‘Transport policy and infrastructure’ as an example of public-private partnership. This fund, under the management of a public government body, could accumulate finances from both private and public sources and allocate financial means for studies and project development, including concession projects. I do hope that such an approach would prove beneficial for the efficient utilisation of national and European budget funds and would simultaneously promote the attraction of the necessary private capital. Thus, we can avoid losing the chance for combining our extensively-developed, but rather worn-out ‘Eastern’ railway infrastructure, with the state-of-art ‘Western’ transport technologies, as this would be in the interest of the common European transport space and sustainable development.