Vladimir Mitev
The Governor of the Ruse region, Dragomir Draganov, gave an interview to Friendship Bridge on the changes that will take place in the organization of the Romanian-Bulgarian border crossing at Giurgiu-Ruse between the two countries in the region after their full Schengen accession on 1 January 2025. and the current status of infrastructure projects
He explained that, during the first six months, the border control at Giurgiu-Ruse will continue, but only randomly and on the basis of a risk analysis, i.e. cars will be allowed to cross en masse, without control, after paying a bridge fee. During this six-month period, conditions will be created for trucks to pass border controls on the basis of risk analysis inside the country, near the border. The Ruse buffer parking lots for trucks leaving the country “should continue to operate,” the regional governor of the Ruse region said.
He added that the Romanian side is expected to complete the road to the border crossing where the Ruse-Giurgiu ferry will dock, easing the expected increased traffic. According to Draganov, a 20% increase in cars and heavy goods traffic is expected after Schengen accession.
Meanwhile, according to Draganov’s information, Romanian institutions, with which he is in contact, have announced that €2.5 billion in funding has been secured from the European Commission for the future Giurgiu-Ruse bridge. The study and design procedures for the second bridge are ongoing. By mid-2026, the design of the bridge will be ready and then its execution will be awarded.
The trust and synchronization of local and national institutions in Bulgaria and Romania are extremely important in order to take appropriate measures for border crossing under the new conditions after full Schengen accession, Draganov added.
The interview was taken on 27 December 2024.
Mr. Draganov, how will the regime of crossing the Friendship Bridge and the border crossing points at Ruse and Giurgiu change during the six-month transition period after the full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen on 1 January 2025?
Hello your radio listeners! In connection with the 12 December 2024 decision of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council on the full admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen, significant changes are being made regarding the crossing of vehicles between Bulgaria and Romania at the land and river borders between the two countries. This applies in particular to the border crossing points at Vidin, Ruse and Kardam.
What does this mean? It means that there will be no border checks whatsoever for cars crossing the border. They will only pay a bridge toll when crossing the bridges at Vidin and Ruse. This will make traveling in both directions extremely easy – from Bulgaria to Romania and from Romania to Bulgaria.
The same goes for heavy goods vehicles, which will also pay only a bridge toll. Controls will be carried out on the basis of a “risk analysis” on between 5% and 10% of heavy goods vehicles. At the discretion of the Customs Agency, a small percentage of vehicles coming from outside the Schengen area, for which there are security alerts from that country, in relation to the passage of various migrants, drugs, etc., will also be checked. This will significantly facilitate the Friendship Bridge crossing through Ruse.
Let me remind you that the Bulgarian section of the bridge is being renovated. A one-lane section will be closed starting 8 January 2025. This will hamper travel in both directions until repairs to the section on the right lane – the one towards Romania – are completed. But up to and including 7 January 2025, both lanes can be used in the direction of Bulgaria and Romania.
What is the status of the repairs on the Romanian side of the Friendship Bridge? Earlier this fall, it was announced that such repairs had begun…
The expansion joints on the Romanian side of the bridge have been repaired. The Romanian side of the Ruse Friendship Bridge’s repair is over. Only those joints that were compromised have been repaired. Their repair started at the beginning of November and was completed by 15 December 2024. So, there are no repair works on the bridge structure on the Romanian side.
How will full Schengen accession affect traffic crossing the Friendship Bridge?
Until May 2026, the renovation of the Bulgarian section will continue, which is divided into 6 stages. The first stage of the renovation lasted from 10 July 2024 to 20 December 2024. On 8 January 2025, the second stage of the renovation will start, which will be carried out on the right lane section of the bridge towards Romania. Currently, 5 sections of the bridge remain. Repairing each of them will take about 4-5 months. This will further limit the bridge’s capacity to serve traffic.
However, I am prepared to provide statistics on vehicles that crossed the Friendship Bridge in 2023 and 2024, which show that it is serving increased traffic even now.
870 000 vehicles crossed from Bulgaria to Romania in 2023. And this week (the last week of 2024) we reported that over 1 million cars crossed in the same direction.
The ratio of heavy vehicles entering and exiting Bulgaria and Romania remains roughly the same as last year. We are talking about between 450 and 460 thousand one-way vehicles per year. But as I said, regardless of the bridge repair on the Bulgarian section, there are 170 000 to 180 000 more light vehicles in 2024 than in 2023.
According to our information, after full accession to the Schengen area, car and heavy goods vehicle traffic will increase by more than 20%. At the moment, when the renovation is being carried out, between 1400 and 1500 heavy goods vehicles pass in one direction every day. I hope that after the increase in traffic following full Schengen accession, the number of trucks passing daily will be around 2000 vehicles. If this happens, it will be an exceptional result, because it will happen regardless of the ongoing renovation of the Bulgarian section.
In this situation, will the Ruse buffer parking lots before the Friendship Bridge continue to operate after full Schengen accession?
In principle, they should continue to function, as the repair of the bridge actually restricts passage. In the last few days, there has been almost no waiting time to cross the bridge. But most transportation companies do not run over Christmas and New Year. We estimate that, on average, between 2200 and 2500 heavy vehicles can cross the bridge daily.
It is very important for us to start the ferry line between Ruse and Giurgiu to take some of the heavy traffic. During the summer, trucks were waiting for about one day a week. But now, as I said, they pass through without delay. Basically, this is the way things are.
We are waiting for the Romanian side to start the procedure for the construction of the ring road between the border crossing point at the Friendship Bridge to Giurgiu and the Giurgiu ferry crossing point, so that heavy goods vehicles can also cross from there.
From our side, the section connecting to the ferry crossing point is 100% ready. We also have a heavy goods vehicle. We are waiting for the Romanian Ministry of Transport to start the procedure to renovate this 1.2 km stretch up to the border crossing point. The requirement from the Romanian side is that the adjacent infrastructure should be on a state road and not on a communal road.
It is known that there is work being done so that a second bridge will be built between Ruse and Giurgiu. What is the current status of this project?
On 20 December 2024, we had a meeting with the president and vice-presidents of the Giurgiu County Council, as well as with the mayor of Giurgiu, Mr. Anghelescu, and the deputy mayors, regarding the temporary operation of the Friendship Bridge on the Bulgarian section, in both directions, between 20 December 2024 and 8 January 2025 and with full accession to the Schengen area. Our Romanian colleagues were saying then that the European Commission has allocated about €2.5 billion for the construction of the second bridge between Ruse and Giurgiu.
The procedures for the feasibility study and design of the bridge are currently under way. This procedure will be finalized by mid 2026. After that, the construction of the actual bridge will be awarded. This is the information we have from the Romanian side. It has been entrusted with the design and execution of the bridge structure.
How do you assess the level of cooperation and trust between the different state institutions at local and national level between Bulgaria and Romania in the context of the Schengen accession and all these infrastructure projects you are trying to implement?
The coordination of all the institutions that are at the border crossing points is extremely important, because they are on the Bulgarian side and on the Romanian side. Synchronization between these institutions is extremely important, because the measures that are taken must be appropriate for both the Bulgarian and the Romanian side. In this six-month transitional period which we are being given, absolutely all the institutions which are on the territory of this border crossing point between Bulgaria and Romania, in Ruse and in Giurgiu, must be moved inland – 20-30 km inland.
Heavy goods vehicles must have the possibility to pay the Danube bridge toll online. Currently, this exists only for light goods vehicles. This way, the bridge could be crossed absolutely unhindered. Only if someone has not paid the toll online, there will be a barrier and it will be possible to pay the toll on the spot with a card, which will create the possibility of an unhindered crossing of the bridge and increase its capacity.
This is why the synchronization of all these measures is very important, both on the Bulgarian and Romanian sides. It is important that the measures taken on both sides are appropriate and identical. This will make it easier for cars and heavy goods vehicles to cross the Friendship Bridge.
Photo: The Friendship Bridge at Ruse-Giurgiu (source: Yavor Michev)
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