On 28 February 2023, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Serbia announced jointly a €2.2 billion financial package for the modernisation of railway Corridor X. The package focuses on rehabilitating the railway section between Belgrade and Niš, enabling a high-speed rail connection of up to 200 km/h between the two cities, with a faster flow of goods and services, and rapid integration into the EU railway network.

The package includes an investment grant of up to €598 million from the EU – the largest EU grant for a single project in Serbia; a €1.1 billion loan from the EIB, and a €550 million loan from the EBRD. The EU has already approved €265 million in IPA grants, and the first tranche of €82.8 million was sealed by a protocol signing on the train from Belgrade to Niš.

The signing took place in the presence of the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Olivér Várhelyi, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, as well as the Head of the EIB Office for the Western Balkans, Alessandro Bragonzi, the Director of the EBRD for the Western Balkans, Matteo Colangeli, the Minister for EU Integration, Tanja Miščević, the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić and the Minister of Finance, Siniša Mali, as well as EU Member States’ diplomats.

Railway Corridor X is one of the pan-European corridors connecting Central Europe with Thessaloniki, Greece. It has been identified as Flagship 1 – Connecting East to West, within the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans. The plan aims to mobilise investments in transport, energy, green and digital transition, to create sustainable growth and jobs reaching one–third of the GDP of the Western Balkans.