Although Slovakia is one of the founding countries of the Three Seas Initiative (TSI), from the beginning it expressed numerous doubts about the added value of the initiative. This resulted in an often low level of representation at TSI summits and no contribution to the TSI Investment Fund. The motive for this approach is the fear that the project has a hidden geopolitical nature and therefore may negatively affect the priority relations with Berlin or participation in the ‘core of European integration’. At the same time, limited number of officials forces the Bratislava administration to prioritize regional cooperation initiatives in terms of clear added value. The TSI, which is still a project in the making, with the fund having a budget that is negligible in the context of the declared investment needs, was not an attractive offer for Bratislava for a long time. Nevertheless, the European marginalization of Slovakia after the parliamentary elections in autumn 2023, related to the policy of Robert Fico’s fourth government, as well as the decline in the importance of the Visegrád Group, may prove to be important factors increasing Bratislava’s interest in the TSI project. This would probably have to be supported by changes in the structure of the initiative itself, making the TSI more closely embedded in the context of European funds.
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