The arrival of high speed in the Basque Country, on the time horizon of 2028, continues to hit a stumbling block: the connections with Europe on the Bidasoa border. Unless France makes a move, high-speed trains will have to brake as soon as they cross the border, run at reduced speed to Dax, speed up slightly to Bordeaux, and finally reach high speed once they cross the Garonne. This situation can cause saturation problems in the border area, as indicated by the institutions, and is the reason that has led Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu and the president of the New Aquitaine Regional Council, Alain Rousset, to knock on the door of Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport.
Both leaders have met with Valean by videoconference and have conveyed “their deep concern about the state of the cross-border interconnection of the Atlantic Corridor between Spain and France.”
The lehendakari and Rousset have expressed their regret to the European commissioner for the fact that “there is a risk that the commitments made by the Spanish and French governments at a European level to complete the Atlantic Corridor by 2030 will not be met.”
The Basque Government is concerned that, after innumerable delays, high-speed rail will reach the Basque Country lame, without an adequate connection with continental Europe, and that it will represent yet another stumbling block in order to position the Atlantic axis in a Europe whose axis of economic activity and innovation is shifting to the east, especially after Brexit.
Not in vain, the connection with Europe and, to the south, with the rest of the Peninsula were the main arguments of a questioned project and which, logically, makes no sense from the sole logic of connecting the Basque capitals. The horizon to the south has begun to clear up this legislature, but the connection with continental Europe remains unknown.
The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, has reiterated that the Commission is doing “everything possible” so that France meets its commitments, in line with the desire to prioritize cross-border connections between European cities.
In any case, the Commission has not specified the steps that are being taken nor has it offered any commitment.
Meanwhile, a French government report from December last year stated that the Bordeaux-Dax section will not be addressed until at least 2042. France has not corrected this time horizon, despite institutional pressure on various fronts, and high speed continues to be a fundamental obstacle on the Bidasoa.
