Overview
The newly created Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea (BBA) European Transport Corridor (ETC) links European Member States from the far north to the far south of Europe with the maritime interfaces of the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea part of the Mediterranean Seas, through the countries of Ukraine and Moldova. It includes 13 countries, namely the 11 EU Member States Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus, as well as two neighbouring countries Ukraine and Moldova. It connects almost all capital cities of the BBA countries, except for Slovakia, where it connects the second largest city Košice, Hungary where it connects to the second largest city Debrecen, and Ukraine where it connects to Lviv.
This corridor starts in the north in Finland from its capital Helsinki and in the south in Cyprus from its capital Nicosia. Heading south from Helsinki we find the Estonian capital Tallinn, continueing in two branches south to Latvian’s capital Riga, branching out to the Baltic Sea ports in Latvia and Lithaunia and on to Kaunas and Vilnius in Lithuania. In Poland the corridor enters from Lithuania to Elk and connects the ports of Gdansk and Gdynia going south via Warsaw and Lublin, it passes Krakov and near Rzeszow it branches out to Lviv (Ukraine) continueing from there towards Odessa at the Black Sea as well as via Romania south to Bucharest and east towards the Moldovan capital of Chisinau also connecting to Odessa. In the south of Poland two branches cross the border with Slovakia connecting north of Kosice before connecting into Hungary and Romania where it branches out in Oradea south east to Bucarest and on to the the port of Constanta and south west to Timisoara. From there there are two branches going south to Bulgaria, one western branch via Vidin to the capital Sofia and one eastern branch connecting to the Black Sea port of Burgas going south to the border with Turkey. Both branches continue into Greece to the Aegean Sea ports of Thessaloniki and Athens. The BBA Corridor finally ends in Cyprus (maritime connection) connecting via the island of Crete to the port of Limassol.
The BBA Corridor countries mainly comprise of railways, roads/highways, airports, sea ports and multi-modal terminals, as well as a number of identified urban nodes. No inland waterway and corresponding inland ports are included in this Corridor. The major exception is Cyprus, where no rail infrastructure is deployed.
The new BBA Corridor contains parts of the former Orient/East-Med Core Network Corridor (in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus) as well as parts of several Rail Freight Corridors. In the north – south and south – north connection in Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Romania and Slovakia there are large pieces of infrastructure part of this new corridor that were before not part of any Core Network Corridor. With regard to other European Transport Corridors, it overlaps in parts with the Baltic Sea – Adriatic Sea, North Sea – Baltic, Mediterranean, Rhine – Danube and Western Balkans – Eastern Mediterranean Corridor.
European Coordinator for the Baltic–Black–Aegean Corridor, Mr Mario Mauro
Mr Mario Mauro was born on 24 July 1961 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. The former Vice-President of the European Parliament and Italian minister of Defence was appointed European Coordinatotr for the TEN-T Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea European Trnasaport Corridor on 12 September 2025. Mr Mauro holds a degree in Philosophy from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan in 1985. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, and has a good knowledge of German.
Current roles
Founder of Meseuro in 2018.
Adjunct professor on European institutions.
Board member of Paradigma Capital, Fondazione Internazionale Oasis, and Fondazione Opere Educative Collegio Guastalla.
Previous roles
Minister of Defence of Italy (2013–2014) – focused on reforming military personnel organisation, enhancing intergovernmental cooperation in military industrial policy, and promoting a cohesive European defence system. Worked closely with NATO and EU institutions to develop the Military Mobility initiative.
Senator of the Italian Republic (2013–2018).
Member of the European Parliament (1999–2013):
- Vice-Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education (1999–2004), promoting the eLearning and Erasmus Mundus programmes.
- Vice-President of the European Parliament (2004–2009; re-elected in 2007), responsible for communication, research programmes, and STOA. Rapporteur in the Committee on Budgets for the regulation on Community financial aid for the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), securing an increased budget and higher EU co-financing rates for cross-border and strategic projects.
- Head of the People of Freedom (PdL) delegation and member of the Bureau (2009–2013).
- Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (2009–2012), Rapporteur for cooperation agreements (including with Iraq), and participant in delegations for relations with the United States and South Africa.
- Member of two special committees on the financial crisis and EU budgetary planning.
- Member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (2012), Rapporteur for the European Investment Bank Annual Report 2011.
OSCE Chair-in-Office’s Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination (2009).
Vice-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (1999–2004), active in human rights missions to non-EU countries.
Mario Mauro, European Coordinator
MOVE-BALTIC-BLACK-AEGEAN-ETC
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (MOVE-BALTIC-BLACK-AEGEAN-ETC[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Ms Lotte Lankveld, Adviser of the European Coordinator
Lotte [dot] Lankveld
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (Lotte[dot]Lankveld[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
+32 229-59099
Postal address:
Baltic–Black–Aegean Sea corridor ETC / TEN-T
Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
Rue de Mot 28
1049 Brussels
Belgium
The work plan is under preparation, with publication foreseen for 2026.
