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The Danube - River of the European future
16.10.2008, 18:47
Representatives from countries, regions, and cities
of the Danube area - from the Danube source to the Black Sea - came together for a special conference in Brussels on 6th and 7th of
October 2008. Beside the partners from the Danube area, representatives
of the European Commission, the European Parliament as well as the
Committee of the Regions (CoR) participated actively in the event. From Croatia, 2 counties participated in the conference: Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem County.
The Danube conference was a fringe event of the “Open Days 2008” of the
European Commission and the CoR.
Objectives of the two-day conference in 2008 were:
- Strengthen the function of the Danube Region as Laboratory of European integration.
- Focus on future inter-regional cooperation on areas of European added value.
- Enhance visibility at EU level through orchestrated policy approaches of the Danube States.
The official opening in the evening of October, 6
by the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Günther H. Oettinger,
was followed by a round-tour through a “Danube market” with
presentations and with specialties of the Danube region.
Central questions for the workshops
The morning of the 7th of October was be dedicated to three workshops:
- What are the Danube region’s potentials for the future?
- What are the most important obstacles currently hindering the exploitation of these potentials?
- What are the European Union’s incentives and possibilities?
- What are the lessons learned from pilot projects of good practice?
Topics of the workshops
Workshop A: "Infrastructural Area Danube and Trans-European Networks"
Infrastructure plays a central role in developing
the internal potentials of the Danube Region. What are the central
bottlenecks, how to make Trans-European networks efficient, what are
the future initiatives to be taken?
Workshop B: "Economy and Trade Area Danube"
The dynamics of economy and trade in the Danube
region are above the European average. What are main sectors to be
further developed, how to promote new initiatives and areas, what kind
of new partnerships and alliances are to be created?
Workshop C: "Lisbon Process and the Danube Region", organized by the representative of the Mission of Croatia to the EC
The Danube Region plays a prominent role in the
implementation of the Lisbon strategy. What is the specific
contribution in this respect, how to further develop the potential of
Education, Sciences and Innovation, how to successfully manage sectoral
change?