Local needs for infrastructure, security and environmental protection at heart of recommendations by the European Committee of the Regions.

The European Union's new strategic approach to the Black Sea must boost local economies, improve infrastructure, and increase security for local communities, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) said on 5 March.

In an opinion drafted by the mayor of the largest EU port on the Black Sea - Blagomir Kotsev (BG/Renew Europe) of Varna - the CoR welcomed the European Commission's more strategic approach to a region once viewed as a "peripheral area". However, it urged the EU to go farther, by developing a "fully-fledged EU Strategy for the Black Sea region, with clear objectives, quantifiable indicators", additional funding, and explicit commitments to work with municipalities and regions.

The CoR describes the Black Sea "as a strategic centre" for transport, energy and digital-cable networks, a region marked by the instability and environmental damage caused by Russia's war against Ukraine, and an area particularly severely affected by climate change. The Black Sea is one of the fastest-warming seas in the world, and is experiencing intensifying biodiversity loss, pollution, coastal erosion and flood risks.

The CoR's opinion provides a wide range of recommendations designed to strengthen security, promote growth and protect the environment, including proposals to enhance cyber and maritime security mechanisms, sustain the development of small-scale fishing communities, and add marine protected areas. Throughout, the opinion emphasises the value of greater efforts to engage local communities, including by ensuring that municipalities and regions are directly involved in planning, funding and implementation and by strengthening local administrations' capacity to counter disinformation, fight corruption and develop sustainable economies.

The CoR's recommendations underscore the need for more scientific research into the region's ecology and - for both economic and security reasons - for more investment in infrastructure. The opinion calls, for example, for an extension of cross-border power grids, the creation of an onshore and offshore 'wind corridor' to increase production of renewable energy, and the integration of the region's transport systems into wider EU networks. Mr Kotsev underlined the significance of improved infrastructure links along a north-south axis, connecting the Black Sea with the Baltic, Aegean, Adriatic and Danube regions. In particular, he emphasised the urgency of establishing proper connections between the three large ports on the EU's Black Sea coast: Constanța in Romania, and Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria.

Of the four other countries on the Black Sea, Ukraine has started negotiations to join the EU, Türkiye's negotiations on accession to the EU are at a standstill, and Georgia has suspended efforts to integrate with the EU. Russia is currently subject to extensive EU sanctions following its seizure of Ukrainian territory in 2014 and full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Quote:

• Blagomir Kotsev (BG/Renew Europe), mayor of Varna and the CoR's rapporteur on 'The European Union's strategic approach to the Black Sea region': "The only way we can counter Putin's false assertions of a divided Europe is by doing real, tangible things. If Europe's ambition is to see a clean, peaceful and prosperous Black Sea region, it must promote infrastructure development, economic growth and environment protection, all underpinned by the highest democratic standards."

Background information:

• Opinion: 'The European Union's strategic approach to the Black Sea region'.

• Audiovisual material: Recordings are available of the debate in the plenary session (5 March 2026) and at the policy commission with MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, co-chair of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (28 January 2026).

• European Committee of the Regions and the Black Sea region: The opinion recommends that the strategic approach to the Black Sea be implemented through existing frameworks, notably through the Eastern Partnership and the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP), as its local and regional dimension. CORLEAP is a political forum of local and regional authorities from the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries created by the CoR in 2011. The CoR also works with Ukraine through a Working Group,which advises Ukrainian local and regional authorities with particular attention to the European integration of the country.