Accession is not a prerequisite. The Danube region is one of Europe's assets from all points of view: natural beauty, with unique flora and fauna; a cradle of civilisations which have influenced, and are still influencing, Europe's history; the route of the river, which winds its way through incomparable cities such as Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Belgrade and Bucharest. The Danube flows through countries of the EU (Germany, Austria and Hungary), candidate countries such as Croatia (which is close to joining), Serbia and Bosnia, and also brushes up against third countries such as Moldova and Ukraine. The European strategy for the Danube region, which was approved by the EU summit last week, makes a reality of the possibility of cooperation between member states and its closest third countries, some of which are candidates to join the EU, some of which are not.
This is a very instructive development, because it puts to one side the commonplace that accession is the only logical and natural way for all geographically European countries. This is not true. The EU is a specific creation which goes much further than cooperation between states, because it has supranational institutions, common policies and a single currency and is pursuing an increasingly unified foreign policy. The “Danube” strategy is the best example of common action bringing together member states, European third countries and even countries which are geographically non-European; in bureaucratic terms, this is a macro-regional strategy. Its action plan, which was established before the formal approval of the summit, contains 200 priority actions which cover safeguarding and improving the natural and environmental heritage and exploiting the economic potential. For the details, I refer you to previous bulletins, particularly no. 10316 and no .10308. Today, I would like to stress the opportunities and prospects of cooperation, separate from the obsession with joining the EU.
Beyond political borders. The Danube region is the best concrete example of this opportunity. It would be absurd for political borders to constitute a boundary to cooperation which is indispensable. Since March of this year, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia, taking the view that “rare species know no borders”, set in place a protected area covering 800,000 hectares bursting with endangered species, such as the black stork, and a stop-off point for 250,000 migrating water birds. In his masterpiece entitled simply “Danube”, Claudio Magris started his journey by searching for the source of the river, in the Black Forest, and found a mystery: having followed sometimes contradictory clues, he found himself standing in front of a tap! But you have to read the rest, the story of a long journey between nature, cities and castles, through populations diversified by language and culture but united by the course of the river. And beyond the shores of the Danube, the mixture between Europe and non-Europe continues, with sometimes almost mysterious effects. Paolo Rumiz tells the tale (in his fascinating book “Aux frontières de l'Europe”, which has just been published in French) of his journey to the eastern borders of the EU on local means of transport: train, bus, boat, even Shanks's pony. Six thousand kilometres, not just inside the EU but as far as Istanbul, St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Odessa, sometimes asking himself the question: “Am I inside Europe or outside it?” Are the borders of Europe a reality? Sometimes, cycle paths have replaced the former Iron Curtain; but the author wonders if there isn't a new curtain on the way, doubtless referring to the borders of the EU. I would add that absurd situations are not always due to Europe; who could have predicted that the city where Kant was born would become a Russian enclave inside the EU?
Separating accession from cooperation. Getting back to the Danube. Of course, the EU plays an irreplaceable role in making the strategy approved by the summit a reality. It plays a similar role throughout the Balkans; I believe that its action and its support should be separated, currently, from the “new accessions” aspect. The EU must be rigorous in its demands for the candidate countries to fulfil all the conditions required. Their applications should not be inspired by material advantages, such as funding for common policy (cohesion policy or agricultural policy), or by new rights such as the free movement of people; or even by the objective of reinforcing its political position towards a neighbour country. Yesterday, this section summed up a few ideas, such as the creation of a single Balkan entity, suggested by Mr Puri Purini, or the temporary suspension of further accessions, as recommended by Jean-Guy Giraud (in the meantime, his text has become an official position of the Union of European Federalists/France). The debate keeps getting richer.
(F.R./transl.fl)