Brussels, 16/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - A public hearing was held in the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday 15 July on the initiative of Bulgarian MEP Mariya Nedelcheva (EPP) at which she presented the Bulgarian contribution to the EU strategy for the Danube region. With four Bulgarian ministers present and representatives of the European Commission and of the countries affected by the strategy, the hearing set out the progress made. The deadline for the Commission to unveil its strategy was set by the European Council for December of this year. This is an issue of great importance since the 3,000-kilometre river is Europe's longest, passing through six member states, Croatia (the accession negotiations of which are close to completion), and Serbia (which, in December 2009, applied to become a member of the EU), a region of almost 55 million European citizens.
“The general statement phase is over. The time has come to get down to brass tacks,” Nedelcheva said. “The aim is to ensure horizontal communication between all the states and regions and a sustained vertical dialogue between European and national institutions”. The Bulgarian ministers informed the meeting of progress in projects around the three areas of focus identified by the European Commission: connectivity (infrastructure, transport, energy); protection of the environment; and development of social and economic potential. “Bulgaria wants to show that it is fully prepared, with concrete projects and different approaches. We are all working very hard on this and we really hope that intentions will now become action,” stated Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev. “On the 420 kilometres of border with Romania, we have only two bridges. By way of comparison, there are seven in Budapest alone. That can't be right,” he added.
The projects presented related largely to infrastructure networks, the environment, energy, tourism, water and risk management and social development. The European Commission has now completed its public consultation phase. The college of commissioners will formally adopt the strategy in Strasbourg on 14 December 2010. (J.I./transl.rt)