Navigating the Three Seas Initiative

Established in 2015 on the initiative of the Polish and Croatian presidents, 3SI was handed a momentum boost the following year when the administration of Donald Trump gave its backing. On the map, the 3SI team sheet builds a block running right across Europe from north to south and linking the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas.

3SI seeks to fill in the missing links in the region's transport, energy and digital infrastructure, in particular the glaring gaps in connections running north to south. During communism, pipeline, rail and road networks were largely built running from east to west, providing a conduit for selling commodities to Western Europe.

The White House was quick to jump aboard 3SI, with President Trump taking a personal interest. Many claim this was part of a drive to counter growing Russian and Chinese influence in the region. However, the outgoing president's targets may also have included pushing back the EU's influence or raising US gas sales, or perhaps all of the above.

3SI is a joint undertaking of 12 EU member states in CEE, designed to accelerate the development of energy, transport and digital infrastructure to increase the region's economic growth, reinforce economic resilience and further the vision of an integrated, cohesive and undivided Europe. Photo: 3seas.eu Countering 'malign' influences

The idea of improving CEE infrastructure to raise its resilience to Russia's dominance of energy supplies or China's offer to bankroll rail and road upgrades under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is most commonly cited as the reason for Washington's interest. As the newly passed US resolution states, the "shared goal" in increasing connectivity between the three seas is to "counter Russian and...