Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-01-20-Speech-3-378"
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"en.20100120.19.3-378"2
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"The Danube Region is a very specific and indisputably vast territory. As we all know, the Danube is, after the Volga, Europe’s second longest river, flowing through or forming the international frontiers of ten countries; its basin covers as many as 19 European states. Hence, it is certainly positive that this region has been receiving specific attention. Still, I believe that we should not try directly to shape the specific form of a Danube Strategy here in the European Parliament. A well-functioning, macro-regional strategy must be defined from below, while the European institutions should create only a framework, facilitate communication at the intergovernmental level, and support the individual actors in terms of methodology, data overviews, etc. In my opinion, the Commission should not elaborate a macro-regional strategy, but rather supervise its birth, since the actual content should be defined at the level of the Member States, the regions, and individual towns and villages.
Furthermore, I firmly believe that even though the Danube Region Strategy should be focused on the future, in its implementation we can hardly eschew the heritage of the past. It should be realised that during the Cold War, the Danube formed the frontier between East and West, in what was then Czechoslovakia, for example. The element of a divided Europe persists in the Danube river basin, actually limiting European integration trends. That is why the strategy should be focused on this particular problem. The Danube’s development potential cannot be fully harnessed while there are still unconnected international, interregional and local transport networks, while more profound cooperation in territorial planning and strategic development planning is still lacking, and while mental barriers persist. The problems of the past must be solved if we are to move ahead more efficiently.
It is commendable that while discussing macro-regional strategies, we are not talking about administrative units, individual states, or NUTS territorial units and regions, but rather of a territory inside Europe. This approach does not only require a change of technology or method of implementing the Cohesion Policy but, to a much larger extent, a change of philosophy. In fact, it is necessary to genuinely enforce the administration of public matters at multiple levels to solve the problems facing the territory, regardless of the existing administrative barriers. Macro-regional strategies represent a way to the future, being, to a considerable degree, unique projects hitherto unparalleled in the European Union. Their goal is to secure cooperation between the Member States, their regional and local self-government authorities and other relevant bodies, based on the principle of partnership, and make it possible for them to solve their problems."@en1
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