Bulgaria, Romania May Align Cold War Tourist Trail

The European Parliament has backed a German MEP´s idea to create a tourist trail stretching almost 4,350 miles from the Arctic to the Black Sea, to reach Bulgaria and Romania.

The assembly believes a restoration of the barbed-wire fences to present the old Iron Curtain border can attract a new generation of tourists.

German Green MEP Michael Cramer wants the "green ribbon" to commemorate Europe´s division and peaceful reunification. Many ex-communist states in Eastern Europe now belong to the EU, with Bulgaria and Romania on the threshold of the bloc of 25.

The initiative has been partially reproduced in Berlin, and a trail for cyclists running the length of the route of the Berlin Wall is almost complete. Now Mr. Cramer would like to see the idea applied further, from the Finnish-Russian border, through the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, then via Poland and central Europe to Slovenia.