Rear Admiral (Ret.) Iuri-Alexandru Covaleov, Senior Associate Expert at New Strategy Center, participated in the Galați Security Forum on November 6, where he moderated the panel “Infrastructure, Connectivity and Resilience – The Capacity to Sustain Mobility and the Continuity of Flows.”

The panel focused on the infrastructure and networks that support mobility, the continuity of flows, and crisis response capabilities.

Discussions addressed dual-use infrastructure, military mobility, redundancy and alternative routes, as well as the role of the Danube in connecting Central and Southeastern Europe to the Black Sea and the European Union’s eastern neighbourhood.

The NSC expert emphasized the importance and urgency of these issues in the context of the war in the immediate vicinity, growing pressure on logistics chains, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and the need for rapid mobility.

He also stressed that transport infrastructure can no longer be regarded solely as a matter of economic policy, but must be recognized as a key component of security, operational continuity, and European resilience. The EU is now integrating military mobility into the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), with the aim of developing a network that is largely suitable for dual use.

Rear Admiral Covaleov pointed out that Central and Southeastern Europe needs a transport network designed as strategic dual-use infrastructure, one that is protected, redundant, and connected via the Danube to the Black Sea and the EU’s eastern neighbourhood.

He further emphasized that without redundancy, there can be no continuity; without dual-use infrastructure, there can be no strategic mobility; and without the Danube and the Black Sea, Central and Southeastern Europe will remain insufficiently connected to its own eastern periphery.