Third Europe: How Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia Can Build the Continent's New Energy and AI Hub

By: Ahmed Taleb

Today, Europe is divided into a rich but saturated West and a poorer East searching for its new role. There is a chance for a "Third Europe" to emerge - a Europe that merges the energy and capital of the Middle East with Bulgaria's geographic position and its membership in the European Union. This is not a theory. These are negotiations that actually began in Riyadh in October 2025.

First: Why Bulgaria? From a Corridor to a Battery

For decades, Bulgaria was seen as a transit corridor for migrants to Germany because it was the poorest country in the European Union. Today, that very poverty has become a strategic advantage:

•  10% flat corporate and income tax - the lowest flat tax system in the EU and the second-lowest rate after Hungary's 9%

•  Legally inside the EU and NATO - with the euro from 2026 and full Schengen membership

•  The cheapest electricity and the most competitive engineers on the continent

•  Migrant share below 3.2%, meaning a stable and homogeneous society without the social tensions blocking industrial projects in the West

Bulgaria is not a destination for social migration. It is a destination for heavy, gigawatt-scale industrial investment.

Second: Energy - From Russian Gas to the Saudi Battery

With the EU's final decision to phase out Russian gas by fall 2027, Europe will need an additional 30 billion cubic meters from elsewhere. Bulgaria has the answer: the LNG terminals in Greece and Turkey and the transmission corridors to Romania, Hungary, and Austria.

But the biggest project that the Bulgarian President presented to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - a $1 trillion fund - is the storage project:

Building three pumped-storage hydropower plants (PHSP) in the mountains, each around 1000 MW, to turn Bulgaria into the battery of Southeastern Europe. The EIB is already advising Bulgaria's NEK on the Batak and Dospat projects, part of a national plan for 4.5 GW of new storage.

Third: The Missing Piece - Two Nuclear Reactors That Make Artificial Intelligence Possible

There is no AI without stable power. Kozloduy NPP on the Danube today produces one-third of Bulgaria's electricity. Work has now started on Units 7 and 8 with American AP1000 technology from Westinghouse:

•  Capacity: 2300 MW of clean energy, running 24/7

•  Partners: American Westinghouse for technology and overall control, Korean Hyundai E&C for construction, and a Canadian-led team for oversight

•  Timeline: Unit 7 operational by 2035, Unit 8 by 2037

This is the formula: Saudi capital from PIF + Bulgarian cheap energy and EU location + American-Korean nuclear technology = a data and AI hub that cannot exist in Berlin or Dubai alone.

•  Financinpartnership with the American bank Citi

•  Timeline: Unit 7 in 2035, Unit 8 in 2037

This means 2,300 megawatts of new capacity. 500 megawatts of that is enough to power the largest artificial intelligence factory in Eastern Europe.

Fourth: Artificial Intelligence - where Vision 2030 meets Europe's vision

In its new 2026-2030 strategy, Saudi Arabia has made artificial intelligence its top priority through its company HUMAIN, with the goal of building 3 to 6 gigawatts of computing capacity together with Nvidia and Google.

Bulgaria, for its part, is negotiating with the EU to build a giant artificial intelligence factory - a Gigafactory - with 17% European financing.

The alliance is clear: Saudi Arabia provides the financing and brings the technology partnerships, Bulgaria provides land inside the EU, cheap nuclear power and low taxes. This could be called a "sovereign artificial intelligence hub" - Europe gets AI independent from America, and Saudi Arabia gets a foothold inside the European market.

Fifth: What is Third Europe?

First Europe: Western Europe - has the money, but is expensive and oversaturated.

Second Europe: Eastern Europe - has the workforce, but is poor and dependent.

Third Europe: The Bulgaria - Saudi Arabia Alliance - this is a Europe that has cheap and stable energy, electricity storage, sovereign artificial intelligence and a 10% tax.

This is a new model: not aid from the Gulf, but mutual investment. Saudi Arabia invests 10 billion dollars, allocated as 7 billion in reactors and batteries and 3 billion in the artificial intelligence factory. And Bulgaria guarantees Saudi Arabia a portal for the distribution of energy and data for all of Europe.

For years, Bulgaria was a country that migrants fled from. By 2035, it could become a country that investors come to. The key is not to become like Germany, but to become what Germany cannot be: a battery and an artificial intelligence factory for all of Europe, with Saudi financing and American and Korean technology.

This is Third Europe!

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