Europese Commissie wil plan voor economische en sociale ontwikkelingen van Donau regio (en)

The ambassadors of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia in Spain have attended a briefing on the preparatory work for the Danube region strategy ahead of the summit meeting on 25 February in Budapest.

Fourteen countries, among them eight EU Member States, are taking part in the preparation of a macro-regional strategy stemming, most recently, from the adoption last October of the Baltic Sea Strategy put forward by the Swedish Presidency of the EU.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to define a strategy to develop the economic potential of Europe's longest river and to improve social and environmental conditions in the region.

During the meeting in the offices of the European Commission in Madrid, the Hungarian Ambassador in Spain, Edit Bucsi-Szabó, pointed out that improving transport and energy interconnections would stimulate the internal market and trade between neighbouring regions, and would also encourage cooperation between EU countries and candidate, or potential candidate, countries. Furthermore, a global strategy would make it possible to tackle issues such as preventing the floods that affect the region.

The Austrian Ambassador, Rudolf Lennkh, highlighted the importance of the Danube in as a route connecting the Black Sea and the North Sea through the canal connecting the Rhine and the Danube in Germany.

The Austrian Ambassador also pointed out that, as in the case of the Baltic Strategy, the Danube Strategy will not have specific funding in the present Community budget, which covers the period until 2013, although funds will be made available from various EU programmes. No new EU institutions will be created, since this has been developed solely by the European Commission, neither will new legislation be passed, since it will make use of the existing legal framework.

According to statements made early in February by the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Pawel Samecki i, after a meeting with the interested parties in Ulm, a pan-European strategy would help overcome historical divisions, economic and social inequalities and poor infrastructures.

Attending the Danube Summit on 25 February in Budapest will be 16 regional countries, together with representatives from the European Commission and the trio of presidencies of the EU (Spain, Belgium and Hungary). The Danube Strategy is expected to be adopted in the first half of 2011 during the Hungarian Presidency.

The Danube runs for over 2,700 kilometres, crossing ten countries, of which six are EU Member States (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria). A further two EU countries - the Czech Republic and Slovenia - lie within the basin of the Danube, although they have no direct access to the river.