The European Commission assures Urculu that it is doing “everything possible” for high-speed connections to France

High-speed access to the Basque Country, on the 2028 time horizon, still faces a stumbling block: communications with Europe at the borders of Bidassoa. Unless France makes a move, high-speed trains will have to brake once they cross the border, run at low speed to Dax, speed up a bit to Bordeaux, and finally reach high speed once they cross the Garonne. This situation could cause saturation problems in the border region, the institutions indicated, which is why Lindakari Inigo Urculu and the new head of the Aquitaine Regional Council, Alain Rosset, knocked on the European door of Adina Valiane. Transportation Commissioner.

The two leaders met with Valjean by videoconference and communicated their “deep concern about the state of the cross-border linkage of the Atlantic passage between Spain and France”.

danger

Lindacari and Rost lamented to the European Commissioner the fact that “there is a risk that the commitments made by the Spanish and French governments at the European level to complete the Atlantic corridor by 2030 will not be fulfilled.”

The Basque government is worried that, after innumerable delays, the high-speed rail will reach the lame Basque region, without a proper connection to continental Europe, and that it will represent another stumbling block for the positioning of the Atlantic axis in Europe whose axis of economic activity and innovation moves eastward, especially After Britain’s exit from the European Union.

It was not in vain that the connection with Europe and the south with the rest of the peninsula were the main arguments for a dubious and, logically, pointless project of the sole logic of linking the Basque capitals. The horizon towards the south is beginning to articulate this legislature, but the relationship with continental Europe is still unknown.

“everything is possible”

The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valjean, confirmed that the Commission is doing “everything possible” so that France fulfills its obligations, in line with the desire to prioritize cross-border connections between European cities.

In any case, the authority did not specify what steps were being taken nor did it make any commitment.

Meanwhile, a French government report from December last year said the Bordeaux-Dax section would not be addressed until at least 2042. France has not corrected this time horizon, despite institutional pressure on several fronts, and high speed remains a major hurdle in Bidassoa.

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