Baltics must seek further EU support for Rail Baltica - Lithuania's Nauseda

VILNIUS - The Baltic states should jointly seek further EU support for the Rail Baltica railway project, President Gitanas Nauseda says.

"The Rail Baltica project is the basis for military mobility and connectivity between our countries. It is essential that we complete it by 2030 and work together to secure further EU funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework," Nauseda told a joint press conference with his Baltic counterparts in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda on Friday.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said that the European standard-gauge railway is also an important military mobility project for addressing hybrid warfare threats and, if needed, redeploying military forces.

"We must do whatever it takes to convince our European colleagues that in the next European budget, we need support from the EU as well. Like it or not, there may also be discussions about finding other funding sources, but I believe that national and European funding will be the two most critical parts in financing this project," Rinkevics said at the press conference.

"Now all of us have to join forces to convince the European Commission and our European friends and allies that there should be a sufficient budget for the period from 2028 to 2035. And then, of course, we still have to figure out some details of the project, which (…) we are currently discussing in Latvia," he added.