Craiova Group

Short description: Cooperation project between Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia

Craiova Group
Quadrilateral

Membership|

* Bulgaria
* Romania
* Serbia
* Greece

Establishment| 24 April 2015
Area

• Total

| 558,822 km2 (215,762 sq mi)
Population

• 2023 estimate

|  42,646,208[1]

• Density

| 78.9/km2 (204.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)| 2023 estimate

• Total

|  $1.591 trillion[2]

• Per capita

|  $34,637[2]
GDP (nominal)| 2023 estimate

• Total

|  $762.798 billion[2]

• Per capita

|  $16,716[2]

The Craiova Group (Quadrilateral), Craiova Four, or C4 is a cooperation project of four European states - Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia - for the purposes of furthering their European integration as well as economic, transport and energy cooperation with one another. The Group originated in a summit meeting of the heads of governments of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, held on 24 April 2015 in the Romanian city of Craiova.[3][4] At the group's inaugural meeting, Romania's then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta indicated that he was inspired by the Visegrád Group.[3] Romania and Bulgaria both joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, while Serbia has been in accession negotiations since January 2014. Since October 2017 at the meeting in Varna, Bulgaria, with the inclusion of Greece, meetings have been quadrilateral.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

One of the first initiatives, after a meeting in Vidin, Bulgaria, was to strengthen the telecommunication networks in the border areas of the countries.[13] Other goals include helping Serbia join the European Union and the construction of a motorway linking Bucharest, Sofia and Belgrade.[3]

On 2 November 2018, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov stated that Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras proposed joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup by Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Greece during the meeting in Thessaloniki.[14]

## Country comparison

Name |  | Romania |  | Bulgaria |  | Greece |  | Serbia

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Official name | Romania (România) | Republic of Bulgaria (Република България / Republika Bŭlgariya) | Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία) | Republic of Serbia (Република Србија / Republika Srbija)
Coat of Arms |  |  |  |
Flag |  |  |  |
Population |  19,051,562 (2023)[15] |  6,447,710 (2022)[15] |  10,482,487 (2022)[15] |  6,664,449 (2023)[16]
Area | 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi)  | 110,993.6 km2 (42,854.9 sq mi)  | 131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi)  | 77,747 km2(29,913 sq mi)(excluding Kosovo)
Population Density | 84.4/km2 (218.6/sq mi)  | 58/km2 (165.8/sq mi)  | 79,4/km2 (212.4/sq mi)  | 86/km2 (230.5/sq mi)
Government | Unitary Semi-presidential constitutional republic  | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic  | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic  | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
Capital | Bucharest – 1,716,961 (2,304,408

metro)

| Sofia – 1,248,452 (1,667,314 metro)  | Athens – 643,452 (3,638,281 metro)  | Belgrade – 1,383,875 (1,681,405 metro)
Largest City
Official language | Romanian | Bulgarian | Greek | Serbian
First Leader | Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Domnitor of the United Principalities (first ruler of the modern unified state)  | Khan Asparuh of Bulgaria (founder of the First Bulgarian Empire)  | Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias (first head of state of the modern independent state)  | Prince Višeslav of Serbia (first ruler known by name)
Current Head of Government | Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (PSD)  | Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov (PP-DB)  | Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy)  | Prime Minister Ana Brnabić (SNS)
Current Head of State | President Klaus Iohannis (Independent but affiliated with PNL)  | President Rumen Radev (Independent)  | President Katerina Sakellaropoulou (Independent)  | President Aleksandar Vučić (SNS)
Main religions | 81% Eastern Orthodox, 6.2% Protestant, 5.1% Latin and Greek Catholic, 0.2% irreligious, 1.5% Other religious  | 59.5% Eastern Orthodox, 9.3% irreligious, 7.9% Islam, 0.9% Protestant, 0.7% Roman Catholic  | 90% Eastern Orthodox, 3% Other Christians (excluding Catholic), 4% irreligious, 2% Islam, 3% Other religious (including Eastern or Western Catholic)  | 81.1% Eastern Orthodox, 3.9% Roman Catholic, 3.1% Islam, 1.11% irreligious, 0.99% Protestant, 3.54% Other religious
Ethnic groups | 88.9% Romanians, 6.1% Hungarians, 3.3% Roma, 0.2% Ukrainians, 0.2% Germans  | 84.8% Bulgarians, 8.8% Turks, 4.9% Roma, 0.7% others  | \-  | 87.5% Serbs, 2.8% Hungarians, 2.1% Roma, 2.3% Bosniaks, 9% others
GDP (nominal) |

* $348,902 billion (2023)[2] 45th
* $18,530 per capita (2023)[2] 54th

* $100,635 billion (2023)[2] 72nd
* $14,893 per capita (2023)[2] 60th

* $239,300 billion (2023)[2] 54th
* $22,595 per capita (2023)[2] 44th

* $73,961 billion (2023)[2] 85th
* $10,849 per capita (2023)[2] 77th

GDP (PPP) |

* $783,903 billion (2023)[2] 35th
* $41,634 per capita (2023)[2] 47th

* $216,267 billion (2023)[2] 72nd
* $32,006 per capita (2023)[2] 59th

* $418,113 billion (2023)[2] 55th
* $39,478 per capita (2023)[2] 53rd

* $173,365 billion (2023)[2] 80th
* $25,432 per capita (2023)[2] 66th

External debt | 36.8 % of GDP | 20.4 % of GDP | 178.2 % of GDP | 48.2 % of GDP
Currency | Leu (L) – RON  | Lev (лв) – BGN  | Euro (€) – EUR  | Serbian dinar (din) – RSD
Human Development Index |

* 0.816 very high[17] 53rd
* 0.725 high IHDI[18] 43rd

* 0.816 very high[17] 52nd
* 0.714 high IHDI[18] 45th

* 0.872 very high[17] 32nd
* 0.766 high IHDI[18] 36th

* 0.806 very high[17] 63rd
* 0.710 high IHDI[18] 55th

## See also

* Accession of Serbia to the European Union
* Bulgaria–Greece–Romania–Serbia UEFA Euro 2028 and 2030 FIFA World Cup bid
* Central European Defence Cooperation
* Central European Initiative
* Frugal Four
* Inner Six
* New Hanseatic League
* Nordic Defence Cooperation
* Three Seas Initiative
* Visegrád Group
* Open Balkan
* Group of Nine

## References

1. ↑ "Population on 1 January". Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tps00001&plugin=1.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2019/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=49&pr.y=7&sy=2017&ey=2021&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=918,968,942,174&s=NGDPD,PPPGDP,NGDPDPC,PPPPC&grp=0&a=.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia Establish Craiova Group for Cooperation". Novinite. 24 April 2015. http://www.novinite.com/articles/168120/Bulgaria,+Romania,+Serbia+Establish+Craiova+Group+for+Cooperation.
4. ↑ "Vucic meets with Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts". B92. 24 April 2015. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=04&dd=24&nav_id=93911.
5. ↑ "Prime Minister Mihai Tudose participated in the Romania - Bulgaria - Serbia - Greece quadrilateral meeting". gov.ro. 9 December 2017. http://gov.ro/en/news/prime-minister-mihai-tudose-participated-in-the-romania-bulgaria-serbia-greece-quadrilateral-meeting.
6. ↑ "What does the future hold for Southern Europe?". https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/rodrigo-vaz/what-does-future-hold-for-southern-europe.
7. ↑ "Craiova Group, a quadriatral cooperation formula more important than the Visegrad Group - 24 April 2018 - the Romanian Business Journal". http://rbj.ucoz.ro/news/craiova_group_a_quadriatral_cooperation_formula_more_important_than_the_visegrad_group/2018-04-24-277.
8. ↑ "Joint military exercise of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia in Attica". 31 May 2018. http://www.balkaneu.com/joint-military-exercise-of-greece-bulgaria-romania-serbia-in-attica/.
9. ↑ "Leaders of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia meet in Bucharest on April 24". 24 April 2018. https://sofiaglobe.com/2018/04/24/leaders-of-bulgaria-greece-romania-serbia-meet-in-bucharest-on-april-24/.
10. ↑ "PM Tsipras in Bucharest for Greece-Bulgaria-Romania-Serbia meeting - ERT International". http://int.ert.gr/pm-tsipras-in-bucharest-for-greece-bulgaria-romania-serbia-meeting/.
11. ↑ "Leaders of Romania, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria meet for economic cooperation - Xinhua | English.news.cn". http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-04/25/c_137134385_2.htm.
12. ↑ Bochev, Venelin (6 December 2018). "Craiova Group – too late or better late than never?". European Policy Centre. https://cep.org.rs/en/blogs/craiova-group-too-late-or-better-late-than-never/.
13. ↑ "България, Румъния и Сърбия свързват телекомуникационните си мрежи" (in bg). Investor. 17 June 2015. http://www.investor.bg/telekomunikacii/457/a/bylgariia-rumyniia-i-syrbiia-svyrzvat-telekomunikacionnite-si-mreji-196840/.
14. ↑ "Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece eye joint bid for hosting 2030 FIFA World Cup". https://seenews.com/news/bulgaria-romania-serbia-greece-eye-joint-bid-for-hosting-2030-fifa-world-cup-632141. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Population on 1 January". Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tps00001&plugin=1.
16. ↑ "ПОЧЕТНА | Републички завод за статистику Србије". https://www.stat.gov.rs/.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 "Human Development Index (HDI)". HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. http://hdr.undp.org/en/indicators/137506.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)". HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-3-inequality-adjusted-human-development-index-ihdi.

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