Three Seas Fund aims to mobilise €2 billion for infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe

A new Fund of Funds is being prepared under the Three Seas Initiative, with the aim of mobilising at least €2 billion for strategic infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe. The mechanism is based on a partnership between the European Investment Fund and national promotional institutions from Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Croatia and Slovenia.

The new instrument was presented during the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Dubrovnik. The European Investment Fund, together with Poland’s Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Romania’s Banca de Investiții și Dezvoltare, Lithuania’s ILTE, Croatia’s HBOR and Slovenia’s SID Banka, signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the initiative later this year. Bulgaria has also announced its intention to support the instrument through its Ministry of Innovation and Growth.

According to the European Investment Bank, the participating countries are expected to jointly contribute around €250 million, while the European Investment Fund will match these contributions at the level of the supported infrastructure funds. This public participation is expected to attract additional private capital and channel financing into projects in clean energy, transport networks, digital connectivity and social infrastructure.

The Fund of Funds model does not imply direct investment in individual facilities. Instead, it provides investment through several professionally managed infrastructure funds. This approach makes it possible to distribute investments more broadly across countries, sectors and project types, reducing risks while facilitating access to long-term capital for large and complex infrastructure initiatives.

Particular attention is also being paid to the development of the local investment market in Central and Eastern Europe. The joint initiative of the European Investment Fund and national promotional institutions is expected to support both experienced international fund managers and new or emerging teams from the region. This is important for strengthening the institutional capacity of Central and Eastern European countries to prepare, structure and finance infrastructure projects.

The Three Seas Initiative is a political platform that brings together countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas. In 2026, the Dubrovnik Summit gathered EU member states, associated participants and strategic partners around issues of transport, energy, digital and investment connectivity in the region. Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and Montenegro participate as associated participants.

IDR commentary

For the Danube–Black Sea region, the launch of the new infrastructure Fund of Funds is significant beyond the financial dimension alone. It marks the formation of another institutional mechanism through which Central and Eastern Europe seeks to accelerate the reduction of infrastructure gaps, strengthen energy security, modernise transport corridors and increase the resilience of regional economies.

According to experts of the Institute of Danube Research, this initiative is also important for Ukraine:

“For Ukraine, which is already an associated participant in the Three Seas Initiative, the emergence of a new €2 billion instrument is a signal that infrastructure policy in Central and Eastern Europe is moving into a more practical investment phase. This is particularly important for the Danube and Black Sea directions, where transport, energy and digital links directly affect Ukraine’s resilience, export logistics and integration into the European market,” the Institute noted.

It is therefore logical that Ukraine, as a state, should view the Three Seas Initiative not only as a political format, but also as a potential platform for attracting long-term capital to recovery infrastructure. Particularly promising areas may include projects related to Danube ports, border crossings, multimodal transport hubs, energy interconnectors, digital infrastructure and logistics routes between Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria and other countries of the region.

For the Ukrainian Danube region, this framework is especially relevant. It is here that the interests of transport security, cross-border trade, port modernisation, energy resilience and regional development intersect. Therefore, Ukraine’s participation in the practical mechanisms of the Three Seas Initiative may become one of the dimensions of post-war recovery, combining national interests with the broader European policy of infrastructure convergence.