Today, April 18, 2020, we recall one of the initiatives of President Lech Kaczynski - the construction of the Via Carpatia road.
27 October 2006. President Lech Kaczyński in Lancut took part in the International Conference "One Road - Four Countries"during which the Ministers of Transport of Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary signed the Lancut Declaration.
Addressing the conference participants, the President said, among other things:
There are places in Poland, where the capital of Slovakia is much closer than Warsaw. There are places in Poland where the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is much closer than Warsaw. The same applies to Budapest. Yes, there are also places in Poland where it is closer to Budapest than to Warsaw. And yet communication is difficult because there is no proper road network. What we are talking about today are the problems with repairing this situation, with returning to something that is somehow natural (...) These are very extensive processes that must be implemented over the next ten or so years.
On March 3, 2016, representatives of 10 countries, including Poland, signed the 2nd Lancut Declaration. During the meeting in Warsaw, Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchcinski said that we are in the middle of a great historical process that can change our part of Europe. He reminded that also the changes after 1989 in Europe started from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, before the Berlin Wall came down. He called communication the basis for development. Kuchciński argued that the Via Carptia will serve all areas of life along the EU border. It will contribute to the development of cultural and regional cooperation.
On April 17, 2019 in Lancut, representatives of Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, as well as the European Commission during the conference "Benefits for Regions" signed the 3rd Declaration . It assumes support for the development of the Via Carpatia route and its inclusion as a priority in national transport policies. It also declared to support the proposal to the European Commission to include the Via Carpatia corridor in the TEN-T core network.
Dear Sirs,
below we publish the content And the Lancut Declaration 2006 in Polish and English. In the nearest future we plan to publish other declarations and documents devoted to the cooperation of Central and Eastern Europe, such as: A Europe of Solidarity, Carpathian Convention, Visegrad Declaration.
The Lancut Declaration
of the Ministers of Transport of the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary
On the extension of the Trans-European Transport Network by creating the shortest route along the north-south axis connecting Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
Ministers of Transport of the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary
Realizing the need for smooth and uninterrupted transportation between regions,
Bearing in mind the need to ensure the interoperability of national transport networks and access to all regions of the European Union, in particular remote and peripheral regions,
With a view to creating the shortest north-south road route for the continuous transit of passengers and goods between northern and southern Europe,
Considering that the development of transport infrastructure is one of the most important conditions for sustainable development,
Wishing to make use of the potential and accelerate the economic growth of the least developed regions of the European Union,
Bearing in mind the need to optimize the shape of the Trans-European Transport Network and to eliminate problems of missing links and traffic bottlenecks in the current network, taking into account all economic, social and environmental factors,
Considering the planned revision of the Community Guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network in 2010,
They commit to:
- take up All possible actions to create a road route Kaunas - Bialystok - Lublin - Rzeszow - Presov - Kosice - Miskolc - Debrecen,
- Considerations the aforementioned road route among the priorities of national transport policy,
- take up all possible measures to include the above-mentioned road route in its entire length in the Trans-European Transport Network within the framework of the revision of the Community Guidelines planned for 2010,
- intensive cooperation to eliminate existing obstacles to smooth international transportation on this route,
- endeavors Create transportation conditions such that transit operations of goods and passengers along the route are efficient and economically viable,
- An expert-level task force chaired by Poland will be set up to analyse in detail all aspects of the construction of this road route.
Signed at Łańcut, on 27 October 2006, executed in four copies in the English language.
