AS European Union (EU) and potential accession countries prepare for next week's Sofia Summit, controversy rumbles on about Chinese involvement in European infrastructure – this time involving the award of a bridge construction contract in Croatia.

The EU-Western Balkans Summit will take place on May 17 and will be hosted by the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. It will bring together the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the European Union, and their counterparts from the Western Balkans region.

The theme of the summit will be “Connectivity” – in terms of transport, energy and digital infrastructure, education, and other aspects. High on the agenda will be plans for improved road and rail links across the region, which is a sector where the EU is trying to discourage involvement from China, in favour of EU-led projects.

One item likely to be discussed in the background talks is the recent award by the Croatian government of a 2.08-billion-kuna (US$335 million) contract to construct the first phase of the Peljesac Bridge and access roads.

A Chinese consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) won the bidding in January 2018. But rivals Strabag of Austria, and a Turkish-Italian consortium comprising Astaldi and IC Ictas of Turkey lodged an appeal to the State Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure. They alleged that the low winning bid from CRBC was backed by state aid, saying that according to EU law the Commission had an obligation to question unusually low prices.

The State Commission rejected the filing, and Strabag then lodged a complaint to the Administrative Court in Zagreb, asking for a provisional measure to stop construction.

The government decided to press ahead with the official signing of the contract between Croatian roads operator Hrvatske Ceste and CRBC on April 23. The same week the court in Zagreb rejected the request from Strabag.

In an interview with Chinese media after the signing ceremony, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic stressed that the bidding had gone through a transparent process in accordance with public procurement procedures of Croatian and EU standards.

Also present was Oleg Butkovic, Croatian minister for maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure, who told Chinese media that the construction of the Peljesac Bridge was a high priority project for Croatia and should be completed within three years.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Chinese ambassador Hu Zhaoming said the bridge was the largest-ever cooperation project between China and Croatia, and it had opened a new chapter of the China-Croatia relationship. Ambassador Hu had already told Chinese media in March that the appeals against the winning Chinese consortium were groundless.

The bridge is being mainly financed with EU funds, which makes the fact that a Chinese contractor won the bidding even more sensitive.

In June 2017 the EU Commission announced that it was allocating 357 million euros (US$424 million) of Cohesion Policy funds to build the bridge, that will connect the southernmost part of the country and Dubrovnik to the rest of mainland Croatia. The EU contribution will cover 85% of the cost. The bridge itself will be 55 metres high and 2.4 kilometres long, with four lanes. EU funding also covers the supporting infrastructure, such as the construction of access roads, including tunnels, bridges and viaducts, the building of an eight-kilometre bypass near the town of Ston and upgrading works on the existing road.

The bridge will give Croatia a continuous land link. The Neum corridor, a strip of the Adriatic Sea coastline which is a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is currently the only land-based route between Dubrovnik and the rest of Croatian mainland, meaning that a lengthy detour through Bosnia is necessary.

Croatia joined the EU in January 2013 and is still its newest member. It is also a member of the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (the 16+1). This group is made up of both EU and non-EU countries and is viewed with suspicion in Brussels.

An additional group of six countries are hoping to join the EU, and the EU is stepping up infrastructure spending on road and rail across the region, in order to improve connectivity. But some countries are sceptical that in reality they will ever actually be allowed to join the EU and remain receptive to Chinese involvement in infrastructure projects.

Bidding procedures on major infrastructure projects is a controversial topic in Brussels at the moment. Last year it expressed concern about the high-speed rail link from Belgrade to Budapest, which features a Chinese contractor, as well as financing from China. Serbia is free to make any bilateral arrangements that it likes, since it is outside of the EU. But Brussels made it clear to Hungary that EU procurement rules for large infrastructure projects must be followed.

Next week's EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia and will be chaired by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who will represent the EU together with the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

An EU strategy was launched in February, titled: “A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced engagement with the Western Balkans.” It envisages that both Serbia and Montenegro could potentially join the EU by 2025. There are also longer-term ambitions for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia.

The summit will aim to inject new energy in the EU-Western Balkans relationship. It will seek to: reaffirm the EU's commitment towards its Western Balkans partners and reiterate the region's belonging to the European family; strengthen links between the EU and the Western Balkans in infrastructure, digital and human connectivity, and work more closely together to tackle common challenges, such as security, migration, geopolitical developments and good neighbourly relations

The summit will be centred on the theme of connectivity, with a view to improve the links with the Western Balkans and within the region. In February this year Donald Tusk stressed the importance of the summit for building strong connections with the Western Balkans.

“We will aim to strengthen connections both with and within the region,” says Tusk. “This spans from more investments in transport infrastructure, through multiplication of educational and cultural exchanges to making communication among our citizens easier and faster. The summit will also aim to boost cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including security and migration.”

However, there are currently tensions between some of the older and more powerful EU members, such as Germany, and newer entrants from Eastern Europe, notably over the issue of taking in asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. And there is also opposition from many political parties across the EU to further expansion.