Cohesion policy

The new EU Danube Strategy, much like the Baltic Sea Strategy, will not be receiving any specific funding in the context of the current 2007-2013 framework of the EU budget.

 

This was confirmed by Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia in a common declaration during a conference on 'A European Strategy for the Danube Region" held in Budapest from 25 to 26 February. The other six non-EU that host the Danube on their territory have been invited to join in supporting the common declaration.

The Danube region is however still to benefit from a coordinated approach between participating states as well as funds from other EU programmes, notably under the cohesion policy. Indeed, the eight member states in question have committed to creating 'an attractive, secure and prosperous Danube region".

Funding is currently impossible because the current budget period does not allow for separate funding for macro-regional cooperation, despite these having become more and more prominent in EU regional policy over the years.

The discussion as a whole lacked concrete proposals, participating countries having merely agreed upon possible areas of cooperation. A large range of fields were put forward including environment, transport infrastructure, energy security, rural development, tourism, good governance, migration, demography and climate change.

The Danube links six EU member states, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as Croatia and Ukraine. Its basin also includes parts of Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania.