Brussels, 25/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 February a conference was organised in Budapest (Hungary) by the European Commission and the Hungarian foreign affairs department. The conference, “A European strategy for the Danube region”, aimed to improve the environmental situation and harness the region's enormous economic potential. The commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, held discussions on this occasion with the Hungarian prime minister, Gordon Bajnai, his foreign affairs minister, Peter Balazs, and his minister for national development and the economy, Istvan Varga. The director-general of DG Regional Policy at the European Commission, Dirk Ahner, was also present.
This conference forms part of a cycle of consultations involving stakeholders in the task of putting forward ideas, whilst the Commission prepares the presentation of a strategy for the region up to the end of 2010. Four priority themes in this strategy were tackled at Budapest: (1) economic development - internal market, trade, innovation, research and development; (2) sustainable development - sustainable agriculture, urban, rural and social aspects; (3) human resource development - culture, education and identity; (4) institutional development - Euro-regions and municipalities. Themes at this conference also included the balance between economic development and sustainability, socio-economic cohesion and institutional development. Participating countries included those that are currently engaged in the Danube co-operation process (eight of which are EU member states): Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.
In a press release, the Commission notes that the economic, environmental and social potential of the Danube region is immense but due to divisions of the past, deep disparities have developed - disparities which implementation of such a strategy will help eliminate. Challenges include improvement of the transport networks, energy supplies and pollution reduction. In his speech, Johannes Hahn noted that “water is at the heart of this new strategy. We have everything to win if the Danube becomes navigable and if the navigable waterways create a connection that goes from the Black Forest to the Black Sea - but we will only be able to exploit this potential if we work together”. The commissioner added that the ecology of this region depended on the health of its rivers and waterways, as well as leading a successful struggle against pollution: “This will decide what heritage we will leave to future generations. It also requires that we pool our efforts”. The region is not only a navigable waterway; it is also an immense fusion of cultural and religious wealth. Hahn explained that this strategy is also a step forward in an effort to overcome obstacles and barriers that have been created by the erection of national and regional borders and to help this region genuinely become a microcosm of what Europe can do best in this current era. “The concept of a macro-regional strategy has become, in no time at all, an extraordinary force. This is due, in my opinion, to European cooperation on a manageable level, free of all administrative and national frontiers but which is not on a scale where actors lose their sense of ownership”, concluded Commissioner Hahn.
The Commission also points out that the Danube basin provides a habitat to more than 300 species of bird, some of which are very rare and for which emergency action is required to protect their existence from industrial and agricultural pollution; the network of navigable rivers also contains development potential because navigation on the Danube currently only accounts for barely 10% of all navigation undergone on the Rhine; Hungary has already begun to shape the new strategy by prioritising the necessity to improve the quality of drinking water, connecting gas pipelines and electricity networks and promoting coastal and port development.
As is the case with the Baltic Sea strategy, this strategy will not benefit from any specific funding in the current framework of the Community budget in force until 2013 but will, on the other hand, benefit from funds from different EU programmes. At least €100 billion has been allocated for the period 2007-2013 under cohesion policy (European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and European Social Fund).
With regard to the next stages, the consultation process on the Danube strategy officially opened before the first stakeholder conference in Ulm, Germany, on 2 February (EUROPE 10068) and will continue to the beginning of summer with other conferences planned in Austria and Slovakia (in April), Bulgaria (in May) and in Romania (in June). Finally, the European Commission urges all interested parties to take part in the public online consultation open until 12 April 2010. The Commission will propose an action plan and governance structure by December 2010 and member states are expected to examine and approve it at the beginning of 2011 (EUROPE 10063 and 9931). (G.B./transl.fl)