Craiova Group

Craiova Group
Quadrilateral
Membership
Establishment24 April 2015
Area
• Total
558,822 km2 (215,762 sq mi)
Population
• 2023 estimate
Decrease 42,646,208[1]
• Density
78.9/km2 (204.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $1.591 trillion[2]
• Per capita
Increase $34,637[2]
GDP (nominal)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $762.798 billion[2]
• Per capita
Increase $16,716[2]

The Craiova Group (Quadrilateral), Craiova Four, or C4 is a cooperation project of four European states – Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia – for the purposes of furthering their European integration as well as economic, transport and energy cooperation with one another. The Group originated in a summit meeting of the heads of governments of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, held on 24 April 2015 in the Romanian city of Craiova.[3][4] At the group's inaugural meeting, Romania's then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta indicated that he was inspired by the Visegrád Group.[3] Romania and Bulgaria both joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, while Serbia has been in accession negotiations since January 2014. Since October 2017 at the meeting in Varna, Bulgaria, with the inclusion of Greece, meetings have been quadrilateral.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

One of the first initiatives, after a meeting in Vidin, Bulgaria, was to strengthen the telecommunication networks in the border areas of the countries.[13] Other goals include helping Serbia join the European Union and the construction of a motorway linking Bucharest, Sofia and Belgrade.[3]

On 2 November 2018, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov stated that Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras proposed joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup by Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Greece during the meeting in Thessaloniki.[14]

  1. ^ "Population on 1 January". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia Establish Craiova Group for Cooperation". Novinite. 24 April 2015.
  4. ^ "Vucic meets with Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts". B92. 24 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Prime Minister Mihai Tudose participated in the Romania - Bulgaria - Serbia - Greece quadrilateral meeting". gov.ro. 9 December 2017.
  6. ^ "What does the future hold for Southern Europe?". openDemocracy.
  7. ^ "Craiova Group, a quadriatral cooperation formula more important than the Visegrad Group - 24 April 2018 - the Romanian Business Journal". Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Joint military exercise of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia in Attica". 31 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Leaders of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia meet in Bucharest on April 24". 24 April 2018.
  10. ^ "PM Tsipras in Bucharest for Greece-Bulgaria-Romania-Serbia meeting - ERT International". Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  11. ^ "Leaders of Romania, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria meet for economic cooperation - Xinhua | English.news.cn". Archived from the original on 5 May 2018.
  12. ^ Bochev, Venelin (6 December 2018). "Craiova Group – too late or better late than never?". European Policy Centre.
  13. ^ "България, Румъния и Сърбия свързват телекомуникационните си мрежи" (in Bulgarian). Investor. 17 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece eye joint bid for hosting 2030 FIFA World Cup". seenews.com. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.