Although economically and socially different, the 14 countries in the Danube Region (of which 8 are EU Member States) are strongly interconnected based on an integration, growth and development potential. The region has a strategic location through which the EU opens up to its neighbours, the Black Sea region, South Caucasus and Central Asia. From the point of view of mobility, the transport axis is one of the most important eco-friendly corridors in the world. The region can significantly develop its competitiveness by enhancing collaboration, filling in missing links in the transport network and improving collaboration within the SMEs.
EU has elaborated the Danube Strategy for the development of this region, a strategy dedicated to improving the life of citizens and focusing on mobility, connectivity, environment protection, energy efficiency, economic and social development, cultural exchange etc.
The strategy includes a solid integrated framework which supports the approach by the countries and regions of the aspects which cannot be dealt with individually, at least not efficiently, but which require a strategic study, projects and activities dealt with across nations. This allows a better cooperation aimed at improving efficiency, the leverage and the impact of policies across the EU by using these policies and the existing programmes and by creating synergies between them. Moreover, it is extremely important that this strategy creates a favourable collaboration framework between the EU countries, Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine.
Published in April, two years after the launch of the strategy, the EC report on the Danube Region says that “18 months after implementation, significant achievements are obvious. The Strategy and its related action plan rely on four pillars. New projects are facilitated for approaching main aspects and these projects offer a new stimulus for existing projects and support the networks in the region”.
“The report reveals a series of new projects and explains in detail the way in which the strategy stimulates the existing initiatives by encouraging collaboration and the combination of funds, thus contributing to the EU’s long-term growth programme “Europe 2020”, declared the EU Commissioner for Regional Development, Johannes Hahn.
For interconnecting the region, the ministers of transport adopted a declaration on the maintenance of the Danube’s waterways. Romania and Bulgaria have also signed the memorandum of understanding on navigability and the project of Vidin-Calafat Bridge, which creates a sustainable transport connection between the two countries, has received a lot of attention.
The project is co-financed from European funds. It is the second bridge along the border section of the 630km river and fills in an important missing link in the TEN-T network.
In order to improve the financing access, the financing dialogue in the Danube Region correlates projects and funds to intensify collaboration between the project initiators (SMEs, banks, financing institutions) and financing programmes. “I would like that the priorities of the Strategy for the Danube Region would be included in the programming of our future regional funds and to be firmly integrated among national, regional and local priorities of every country involved in the project. The strategy should be considered in every relevant political area and supported by politically and financially stable structures”, declared Hahn.
A financial instrument included in the 2014-2020 budget is necessary
The EU budget can offer limited direct financing of the implementation structure by 2014. However, considering the fact that financing is not guaranteed, it is necessary to find other support means, such as national sources or the future cross-border cooperation programme for the Danube Region.
The objective of the strategy is to obtain better results and a more significant impact by aligning the existing funds and policies in the EU. “Regarding this strategy, member states and the third countries which border the Danube have sent projects included in the action plan of the strategy. The strategy is very lively and develops constantly. The countries can add new projects all the time and can eliminate from the action plan the projects which are no longer up-to-date”, declared Silvia Adriana Ţicău, Vice Chair of the European Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN).
The EU strategy does not have a budget line dedicated to the implementation of projects in the action plan, but member states can use structural funds to develop these projects. “It is essential that the projects included in the strategy would also be included in the Operational Programmes of the countries for 2014-2020”, said Ţicău.
At the moment, the European Parliament and the Council are negotiating the regulations on the guidelines for TEN-T and the Connecting Europe Facility. Of the total budget (estimated at EUR 32 Million for 2014-200), EUR 10 Billion come from cohesion funds and “could only be used by the states that are eligible for the cohesion policy based on annual grants up to 2017 and jointly after 2017. Within the connecting facility, rail, water and intermodal transport will be prioritized”, added Ţicău.
The Conference on the Danube Strategy (held at the end of 2012) focused on the necessity of a financial instrument dedicated to strategy and included in the next programming period 2014-2020. It is important that interested member states would include the projects on the development of the TEN-T network and the Connecting Europe Facility within their operational programmes for 2014-2020 to elaborate the necessary feasibility studies as fast as possible and to ensure the financial resources necessary to the co-financing of each of these projects. From the experience of previous years, the highest amounts of the Connecting Europe Facility will be offered to those interested through project demands launched in the period 2014-2016”, explains Ţicău.
The sure thing is that member states in the Danube region can use EUR 239 Million available of the total EU budget in order to issue bonds for the financing of projects on transport, energy and communications. The programme is managed by EIB and projects should be submitted by December 2013.
Slovenia and Serbia, the coordinators of the priority area 1B (for mobility-railway-road-air), have underlined their outcome: the establishment of governance structure, the development of detailed maps for all transport modes, the identification of relevant projects, selected from 150 projects, of which 51% for railway, and the delivery of 17 recommendation letters, 7 of which on railway projects.
Regarding the railway programmes, so far the Steering Group of Priority Area 1B has granted Romania recommendation letters for the project on the electrification and rehabilitation of the line Bucureşti Nord – Jilava – Giurgiu – Border, the modernization of the lines Arad – Timişoara – Craiova – Calafat, Craiova – Strehaia – Drobeta Turnu-Severin – Caransebeş and Craiova – Calafat and Priority Axis 22, northern branch: Curtici – Braşov – Bucharest – Constanţa.
“I believe that the improvement and maintenance of the existing railway infrastructure will help reduce the travel time and will improve railway transport conditions which will increase the number of consumers on railway freight and passenger transport”, concluded Adriana Ţicău.
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