Hungary assumes a specific responsibility for drafting the EU’s Danube Strategy as the document will be up for approval during its EU presidency in the first half of 2011, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said in Budapest on Thursday.
Opening a two-day summit of the European Commission, Bajnai said that Hungary would be willing to become one of the countries to lead the drafting of a strategy for developing cross-border transport infrastructure and public transport, a “flagship project” of the Danube strategy.
The Danube is on the list of the ten most endangered rivers in the world. The aim is to make use of the resources efficiently and sparingly, protect the river’s natural ecology, improve navigation and stimulate tourism while preserving its cultural heritage.
Bajnai said Hungary was giving priority to environmentally sound navigation, developing transport based on cutting-edge information technology and extending high-speed rail links in the Danube basin.
Noting the 10th anniversary of the Danube’s “sister river”, the Tisza’s contamination by cyanide, the prime minister said the importance of guaranteeing the quality of drinking water should not be forgotten. He said that this had been one of the most important tasks outlined at the national Danube conference held in January.
A joint statement by 50 universities located in the Danube basin calls for the further development of a Danube science cluster which has operated over the past 20 years, Bajnai said.
In Budapest, dialogue between the region’s business, university, local government and civil-sector partners can be an important step in forming a more unified and cooperative Danube region and thereby creating a stronger and more dynamically developing Europe, said Bajnai.
The drafting of the strategy for the Danube region is the job of the European Commission, and its preparation falls to the Spain-Belgium-Hungary trio presidency.
European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn said the strategy should give priority to improving the quality of life of the millions of people living in the region. Hahn said opportunities offered by the emerging strategy should be tapped, and he said it was expected that the document would be approved during Hungary’s EU presidency in the first half of 2011.
Managing water resources and use of the Danube is of key importance as far as the region’s farming sector is concerned.
Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Delic said it would be hard to secure the financing needed for implementing the Danube Strategy.
Delic suggested that a donors’ conference should be held giving the opportunity for the countries included in the strategy to examine the means at their disposal.
He noted that the Danube basin covered some of Europe’s richest and poorest regions, and welcomed a concept which makes use of participants’ traditional policymaking tools in regional development in drafting of the Danube Strategy.
The Serbian official said the strategy’s contents should include mention of the respect for human and minority rights. He noted that the Danube basin in Serbia is home to one of the most mixed ethnic populations.
Slovak Foreign Minster Miroslav Lajcak proposed that the Danube should be made navigable along its entire length.
Lajcak said that Slovak and Hungarian experts examining the Danube’s environment for 15 years had concluded that the river’s use for economic and transport purposes did not necessarily harm the environment.
Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said the strategy should be filled with concrete projects and translated into reality to prevent it from “remaining dead in the water”. Boc said the Danube Strategy could become a fine example of macro-economic cooperation, it could enhance stability and increase welfare in the region.
