The conference was organized by the Republic of Croatia as a partner country within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and saw the participation of high officials from the 14 countries covered by the Strategy, as well officials from the EU institutions
The conference was organized by the Republic of Croatia as a partner country within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and saw the participation of high officials from the 14 countries covered by the Strategy, as well officials from the EU institutions.
The conference was opened by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and offered the participants the opportunity to discuss the Strategy’s priorities and its role in improving the quality of life in the Danube macro-region.
A press conference was held afterwards, attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandroković, Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, President of the EU Regions Committee Mercedes Bresso, and the Hungarian government commissioner for the EU Danube Region Strategy Etelka Barsi-Pataky.
Minister Jandroković pointed out that the conference, the first after its adoption at the Council of the EU 13 April, had expressed political support for the common initiative and realization of projects which would contribute to the development of the Danube basin. The conference is also a contribution to the promotion of Croatia as a country important for the process of the Danube Region Strategy, said the minister.
He pointed out that the level of Croatia’s relations with the EU stimulated synergy between the Strategy participants that would make the Danube region recognizable and strong, not only regionally but in the European context as well. Noting that the Strategy’s activities include the EU members as well as those that are yet to become one, he said he expected that its implementation would aid the development of all the entailed countries of the Danube region.
He emphasized that Croatia had been actively involved in the drawing up of the Danube Region Strategy from the start. In included consulting the state bodies, agencies, public and private sector, as well as the local governments of the Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja counties, in order to determine Croatia’s interests for participating in a project of transnational importance. He reminded about Croatia’s assuming of the role of a co-coordinator in two of the 11 priority areas within the Strategy’s action plan. The Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship will co-coordinate the area of company competitiveness strengthening with Baden-Württemberg, while the Ministry of Culture will co-coordinate the preservation of biodiversity, landscape, and air and soil quality with Bavaria.
The minister also pointed out that it was of the highest importance for the economic development of Croatia’s Danube basin that the Vukovar and other ports are reconstructed, the capacity of passenger and cargo terminals strengthened, and the road, railway and air transport enhanced. Also, the project of a multipurpose Danube-Sava channel brings the perspective of environmental design, flood protection, irrigation and effective water management, as well as other effects that are of interest to several Croatian counties and neighbouring countries.
Pointing out that the participation in the Strategy represented a continuation of Croatia’s proactive approach to regional cooperation, Minister Jandroković emphasized its compatibility with Croatia’s current regional engagements, which contributes to the EU enlargement policy.
Conclusively, he stated that Croatia would soon, as the youngest EU member, do all it took to assist, through the instruments of the Strategy and by transferring its own experiences, assist the candidate countries from the region.
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