Commissioners Creţu and Navracsics at the Danube Strategy annual forum

Commissioner for Regional policy Corina Creţu and Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, are in Budapest today and tomorrow to attend the 6th annual forum of the Danube macro-regional strategy, entitled “A secure, connected and prospering Danube Region”. Commissioner Cretu said: “To me there is no greater priority than better connectivity in the region, encompassing land transport and navigability. This is key to unlock the full potential of the Danube Strategy. Political commitment and coordination are crucial here.” Commissioner Navracsics said: “The concerns of people in the Danube region range from air quality to traffic congestion and from energy security to water quality. The work of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, such as a new dashboard offering better access to data, enables authorities across the Danube region respond to their citizens’ concerns more effectively.” The Danube Strategy is one of the four macro-regional strategies. It was launched in April 2011, gathering nine EU countries (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) and five non-EU countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine). The ministers in charge of the Strategy will tomorrow adopt a joint statement setting out principles and priorities for the future – regional energy security, infrastructure development and clean connectivity, which can be boosted with an optimised use of EU funds. Also at the forum, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, for which Commissioner Navracsics is responsible, will present the latest addition to the Commission’s Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies, the Territorial Dashboard. This tool visualises data for all EU regions – on the economy, education, employment, health, energy or transport – in a user-friendly way. This will help regional authorities of the Danube region to target investments where they are most needed and where they can have the greatest impact.