The European Forum Wachau takes place once a year and it is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria and the Provincial Government of Lower Austria
The European Forum Wachau takes place once a year and it is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria and the Provincial Government of Lower Austria. The participants in the Forum are high officials and ministers and distinguished persons from public and political life of Member States of the European Union and of candidate countries for European Union membership.
Ministar Jandroković expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the Forum, and thanked the Republic of Austria and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Spindelegger for the support provided to the Republic of Croatia in the achievement of its main foreign policy objective – accession to the European Union.
In his speech, Minister Jandroković explained Croatia’s views on the development of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. He reminded of the last year’s conference of the Working Community of Danube Regions and the Danube Forum 2009 in Linz where the Republic of Croatia offered its full support to the development of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. Croatia also clearly stated its view that the only successful approach to the formation of such a macro-region is the involvement of all Danube countries in the Strategy, regardless of their European Union membership status.
Having mentioned that the Republic of Croatia regards this Strategy as one more dimension for the strengthening of cooperation with the neighbouring countries, and as an additional platform for promoting regional partnership on the joint European voyage, Minister Jandroković presented the priority points of Croatian participation in the work of the Danube region. They are the following: the building and reconstruction of the road and railway infrastructure, as part of the wider European transport network, and the reviving of the Croatian waterways. If these projects were implemented, said Minister Jandroković, the Republic of Croatia would become, to everyone’s benefit, an important link between the countries of Central Europe and ports on the Adriatic Sea.
The Republic of Croatia is interested in the development of tourist amenities in the region and the development of small and medium enterprise. Minister Jandroković particularly emphasised the issues of environmental protection in the achievement of all the above-mentioned objectives of the Republic of Croatia.
Having stressed that the achievement of a harmonised standard of living is the essence of the European Union regional policy, he stressed that cooperation at all levels of government, from supranational, national to local is one of the important tasks in this direction. Such a harmonised cooperation will influence the overall economic development, in accordance with the 2020 Strategy, said Minister Jandroković. Having said that we are witnessing a development of a new paradigm in cooperation between countries in the European continent, he mentioned the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region as a successful example of such cooperation. He reminded of this weeks’ SEECP summit in Istanbul where commitment to regional cooperation was once again confirmed. The Istanbul summit stressed the importance of preserving the perspective of European union membership for all countries in South East of Europe upon fulfilment of the necessary preconditions and criteria with the aim of further positive development in the region.
The plenary sessions of this year’s European Forum Wachau 2010 discussed the possibilities and challenges for the Danube Region within the new Europe and they talked about turning this area into a prosperous, sustainable and safe macro-region. The working groups discussed the challenges concerning internal and external security of the Danube region, the possibilities and advantages offered by the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, economic, social and infrastructural development of the Danube region, and cultural and natural environment in the region.
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