At a Danube summit on 5-6 May 2009 in Ulm in Austria, government representatives called upon the European Commission to prepare an EU strategy for the Danube Region to unlock cooperation opportunities in the areas of infrastructure, commerce and trade, as well as education, innovation, the environment and culture.

With more than 260 million inhabitants, great economic and scientific dynamism and cultural variety, the neighbouring states of the Danube represent an important area in European with strong potential. An EU strategy for the Danube Region could sustainably develop the territorial cohesion of this European macro-region. Government representatives want to see great importance attached to the development of the Danube as a European waterway and transport route for stimulation of the economy. They propose that the regional programmes in the new funding period from 2014 link opportunities in political areas of energy, environment, transport and infrastructure, professional training and mobility, research and innovation, arts and cultural activities as well as sustainable economic activity and tourism, and simultaneously support projects and measures aimed at sustainably improving the water quality of the Danube and its tributaries.

The Ulm Final declaration is completely in line with INE’s view that waterways are backbones for regional development. An integrated approach to logistics, energy, tourism, leisure, regional development, environment, water supply and protection enables a better coordination of funding and delivers more public and private return. Smart infrastructure is an important carrier for system and technological innovation deployment that gives new energy to Europe’s economy in a sustainable way.

≡ Danube final declaration
≡ INE on re-thinking infrastructure
≡ EC Green paper on trans-European networks