Joint Declaration of Foreign Ministers from Danube riparian countries at the Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean presided the meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries participating in the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), as follows: the European Commissioner in charge of regional policy, Johannes Hahn, the representative of the current EU Presidency, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Vytautas Leškevičius, the special envoy of the Austrian Chancellor, Johannes Kyrle, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkić, the Minister for European and International Affairs of the German Land of Baden- Württemberg, Peter Friedrich, the Czech First Deputy Foreign Minister, Peter Javorčik, the State Secretary Igor Senčar from Slovenia’s Foreign Ministry, as well as high officials from the foreign ministries of Germany and of Bavaria land, of Croatia, Ukraine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The discussions and consultations during today’s session were about regional cooperation and the importance of the territorial dimension of the Union’s new cohesion policy, about consolidating the national governance structures of the Danube Strategy down to the sectorial- executive levels, coordinating national efforts to adapt the macro-regional approach to the reality of an enlarged Europe, as well as to capitalizing on the transnational and cross-border cooperation mechanisms in order to back non-member states participating in the Strategy in their demarches pursuing European integration.

The European Commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, underscored the important role of foreign ministers in establishing strategic orientations, and underscored the need that the strategy further yield specific results benefiting the citizens and help develop solutions to address the joint challenges in the Danube region.

“The foreign ministers of EUSDR states should play a greater role in order to secure high-level political involvement in support of projects in the framework of the Strategy. It is necessary to ensure access to funding for the new EUSDR projects, to ensure better cooperation between EU member states and non-member states,” said the European Commissioner.

The meeting provided the opportunity also for an exchange of views on connecting European cooperation formats of the 1990s to the existing macro-regional strategies, the Danube Strategy, the Baltic Sea Strategy, and expected Adriatic – Ionian Sea Strategy.

The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johhanes Hahn, stressed the important role of the Foreign Ministers in setting the strategic guidelines, also highlighting the need for the strategy to continue to deliver concrete results for the benefit of citizens, to develop solutions to address the common challenges in the Danube region.

Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlăţean presented, at the end of the meeting, the Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of the Danube Countries. The document records mainly the acknowledgment of the Danube Strategy’s contribution to developing the Danubian regions and communities both within the Union and close to its borders, to coordinating the national development priorities and promoting joint projects of macro-regional importance, to strengthening the dialogue on aligning the financing sources from funds of the future 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, involving the foreign ministers and the national coordinators in consolidating the national tiers of the Strategy’s governance, as well as in supporting the integration of non-member Danubian states through cross-border cooperation programs and use of EU assistance tools on its external borders. The Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of the Danube Countries, made in Bucharest on 28 October 2013, is available on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mae.ro.

Romania is involved in EUSDR as coordinator of three specific areas, namely the internal water management with Austria, environmental risks with Hungary and culture and tourism with Bulgaria.

About the Danube Strategy

The Danube Strategy is a wide-scope European political project launched by Romania jointly with Austria in 2008. An important initiative of Romania after its accession to the EU, it was adopted by the European Council on 24 June 2011 as a macro-regional strategy of the European Union.

More information about the Danube Strategy is available at http://www.danube-region.eu/

Further details about the 2013 Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, held in Bucharest and the full schedule of the event are available at http://www.mae.ro, information on this Forum being also available on the website of the European Commission, at http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/danube_forum2013

Oana Vasiliu

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