Brussels, 28/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Visiting Bavaria for the first annual forum of the Danube Strategy (see EUROPE 10798), European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn said that in some areas progress on the strategy has not been as good as he would have liked. Eighteen months after the adoption of the strategy, he recognises, however, that on the whole “we have done far better over the last year than I could have imagined” - for example, on the platform for cooperation, on the operational level for the eleven priority areas, and on the concrete projects already accomplished like the bridge between Romania and Bulgaria. Nevertheless, Hahn calls for still more effort in the coordination work (he points out the too frequent changes in personnel) and he calls for the participation of all countries in the priority areas. “We cannot approach the Danube Strategy as if it were a menu of priorities from which each of us can choose to work on just one or two. The whole point of the strategy is to design and implement common policies, shared by all”, he said. He called for reflection on how to strengthen the cooperation mechanisms and how to integrate the Danube dimension more systematically in policies at all levels. (MD/transl.fl)