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CROATIA'S PRIORITIES AND COOPERATION IN THE DANUBE REGION

EU Strategy for the DanubeRegion

At its meeting in June 2009, the European Council tasked the European Commission with the development of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region by the end of 2010. Its adoption and the beginning of its implementation are expected in the first half of 2011.

Croatia fully supports the idea of creating an integrated European transnational approach, the Danube Strategy that will facilitate the prosperity of the Danube Region, and improve handling of its cross-border challenges. It primarily represents a joint effort of the states in the DanubeRiver Basin in defining the specific characteristics of this European macro-regionand the common needs of the Danube area.

Croatia's fundamentalapproach is that equal partnership in the development of the Strategyis the basic prerequisite to its successful implementation. The full utilisation of resources of the Danube area and the realisation of the goals of theStrategyare only possible through balanced development of all the states of the DanubeRiver Basin, which is an endeavour that requires their full engagement. For a comprehensive long-term strategy, both its development and - particularly - the success of its implementation, it is crucial to have the cooperation of national, regional/local authorities, public and private sectors, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations.

Croatia's involvement in and contribution to the development of theStrategy represents an excellent opportunity for the implementation of theknow-how and experience acquired in Croatia's Euro-integration process. The development and implementation of the Strategyis an added value in Croatia's process of accession negotiations, yet to Croatia these are without a doubt two separate processes.

This document is a preliminary presentation of the cooperation priority areas and realisation of joint projects in the Croatian part of the DanubeRiver Basin. It has been prepared on the basis of the proposals of state institutions (ministries, agencies, offices) and Croatian counties in the Danuberegion. It represents the first contribution of Croatia to the database of the European Commission necessary for the development of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.

The Danube Region and Croatia's DanubeRiver Basin

Notwithstanding the different historical experience, social and economic circumstances, the river Danube has been the connection between the European nations and cultures for centuries. Today, a new dimension of integral European cooperation is opened in the Danube area,which could play a significant role in the development of this part ofEurope.

By opening to traffic of the canal linking rivers Main and Danube, the two major navigation systems (Rhine-Mainand the Danube with its tributaries) were transformed into a single pan-European traffic corridor VII,connecting the Northernand the Black Sea, and building a network with corridors IV, V and X. This offered new prospects of traffic connecting, economic exchange, joint physical planning and environmental protection, development of inland tourism and cultural closeness.

Croatia defines itself as an Adriatic, Central European and Danubecountry.An additional dimension it can offer within the framework of the future Danube Strategy is to be a “bridge” between the Danube area and the Adriatic i.e. the Mediterranean. This may provide such prospects to the overall cooperation within the Danube areathat can contribute to the special development of the Danubecountries, particularly to the strengthening of trade, transport and transit, as well as tourism.

The Croatian Danube regionrepresents the lower DanubeBasinwith the river Sava,along the southern part of the state border and Drava along the northern one.This is a relatively sparsely populated area with visible detrimental consequenceof war, large mine-infested and mine-suspected areas, which limits the usability of the rich natural basis and agricultural resources.With eight counties of Central and Eastern Croatia, it representsNUTS 2 region (PannonianCroatia).

Pannonian Croatia is a regionwith favourable geostrategic location on the routes of European traffic corridors Vc, VII and X. Natural resources have been recognised and appropriately utilised. The existing renewable energy resourcesare still not being sufficiently exploited. A significant strength of the region lies in its good links to the major centres in the surroundings, and there are potentials in the navigability of the existing rivers.

For Croatia the key point is that the national and EU strategies for development of the Danube region, make a consistent, integrated and efficient basisfor the utilisation of the national and EU resources aimed to strengthen competitiveness and create conditions which will enable this part of Europe to approach, as soon as possible, the average level of the social and economic development in the European Union.

Areas of cooperation and Croatia's priorities

In developing Croatia's contribution to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, with the aim to determine Croatian priorities relevant for the Danube macro-region, the principle of harmonisation of national prioritiescontainedin the relevant sectoral national strategies, with the priorities as defined at the level of NUTS 2 regions, was applied.

The main goal is to contribute to the strengthening of the overall development potential of the Croatian Danube region, by positioning this region as a connection between Danube River Basin and the Adriatic See and the Mediterranean, in order to achieve, through fostering trade and traffic, as well as continental tourism, a higher level of competitiveness and development of the Danubian countries.

The main prerequisite fora sustainable development of the Croatian Danube region is demining. It represents a crucial horizontal measure that has to be taken into consideration since it affects a broader Danubian area.

The main prioritiesin Croatia'sDanubeareaare:

  1. Development of intermodal transport and effective connecting of the Danube region with the Adriatic coast
  2. Increasing economic competitiveness through development of entrepreneurship, modernisation of agricultureand the development of special forms of tourism
  3. Environmental protection, risk prevention, and renewable energy resources development
  4. Human resourcesdevelopment

The proposed priorities include the following projects:

  • Revitalisation of the Drava-Sava waterway (the canal and ports, river basin management, navigation, prevention of flooding)in accordance with the appropriate assessment of the impact of plans, programmes and projects on the ecological network and nature protection measures and conditions
  • Clusterisation and export incentives
  • Projects for the transfer ofknow-how and technology and new technological solutions that are to contribute to the specialisation,clusterisationand creation of the climate conducive to foreign investment
  • Strengthening of the network of universities and colleges
  • Strengthening business activities
  • Improvement of housing and utility infrastructure, programs for the settlement of educated workforce
  • Establishment of an integrated administration and control system (IACS) and a system of identification of land parcels, agricultural accounting, agricultural statistics, to achieve comparable agricultural structure, agro-monetaryanddairy data
  • Food-processing facilities that meet the EU requirements concerning hygienic standardsand are generators of the export growth
  • Achieving a greater extent of self-sufficiency, particularly in food and energy

Financial framework of Croatian programs and projects

Within the framework of the activities for the realisation of the development programs and projects in Croatia's Danube region, it is necessary to also define the sources of the funds, in addition to development priorities.

In order to help implement the proposed priorities, Croatia will make use of different European funding sources – in the pre-accession period this will continue to be the IPA programme, and the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund in post-accession.

The preparation for the implementation of the EU Common Cohesion Policy is well underway; Croatia is currently setting up the administrative structure and developing the key strategic document – National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) – that defines the priorities to be jointly financed through EU and national sources. The overall strategic approach for the programming period 2012-2013 focuses on the implementation of polices aiming at achieving convergence with the EU, improving the living standards of the citizens and promoting sustainable development through a range of infrastructure, productive and social capital investments.

Under this framework, the coordination, implementation and control of interventions under the NSRF is primarily the MemberState’s responsibility. Croatia will use the same coordination mechanisms in order to ensure the complementarity and coherence of the Danube Strategy with all other relevant documents and also to avoid any unnecessary overlapping. The national coordinating body will ensure coordination of the Danube Strategy and its activities with programming of structural instruments and with investments planned under national budget (including through loans of international financing institutions) and through EU funds for agriculture, rural development and fisheries.

Given the Croatia’s physical shape,the concept of cross-border cooperationis of great importance to Croatia, as well as Cross-border and transnational cooperation funding, allocated through Objective 3. Complementarity of investments into cross-border and transnational cooperation with the Operational Programmes under the NSRF serves to ensure synergy of local and regional development needs and potentials with mainstream sectoral policies and national development potentials. The same principle will be respected with reference to the Danube Strategy and complementarity ensured once the Strategy’s priorities are defined and programming of assistance under the future Objective 3 Operational Programmes begins.

It is also important to mention a specific aspect of complementarity between the EU assistance and foreign assistance granted under international financial institutions (IFI). The need to coordinate the cooperation of relevant national institutions and IFIs in the context of Cohesion policy preparations has been recognized and steps were taken in order to initiate these processes.

Areas of cooperation – Croatia's proposals

Horizontal measure - demining

With a view to realise the strategic goals contained in this document, the top requirement is to clear landmines in the mine-suspected areas of the Danubearea.

Demining includes the following activities and objectives:

  • Deminingof agricultural land to improve agricultural production in war-ravaged areas (particularly regarding the production of healthy, organic food)
  • Deminingofthe canal and embankment networkto prevent flooding and enable the irrigation of agricultural land
  • Deminingofareas adjacent to transport infrastructure to increase the safety of passenger and freight transport
  • Deminingofflood prone areas
  • Deminingofthe area along the prospective traffic routes (corridor Vc, the Danube-Sava canal) and energy infrastructure (power grid, substations, wind farms etc.)
  • Deminingofprotected nature areas to facilitate tourism in the region
  • Deminingofthe border area to facilitate border control with a view to preventing the smuggling of goods, narcotics and people
  • Deminingin order to facilitate monitoring of the area with a view to preventing the spread and various contagious diseases (avian flu, swine fever etc.) and fighting them

The priorities are in accordance with the following strategic documents: The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction; EU Directives on mine action 2008-2013; The National Mine Action Program of the Republic of Croatia 2009-2019; The three-year plan of humanitarian mine clearing 2009-2011.

1. Transport

The development of road, rail, inland waterway and inter-modal transport infrastructure aimed at securing safer and faster transportation of people and goods along the international transport corridors, is one of the top priorities in the DanubeRiver Basin. The construction, renewal and reconstruction of the entire transport infrastructure represents the basis for further development of Croatia's Danube area; further more this could considerably contribute to the improvement of the transport network in the Danube region at large, particularly in regard of the links between the seaports on the Adriatic and the countries on the Danube that have no direct access to the sea. A modern multimodaltransport network is surely one of the major factors enabling linkage on the local, regional and international levels, and it is a prerequisite to any regional development.

The priorities in the development of comprehensive transport network and multimodal traffic links in Croatia's Danube basin area include:

  • Construction of road traffic corridors as parts of international traffic corridors
  • Construction and reconstruction of the railway infrastructureas parts of international traffic corridors, railway nods and rail-road crossings to ensure the best, the fastest and the safest possible transportation
  • Reconstruction and development of inland waterways, passenger ports and cargo ports on the rivers Danube, Drava and Sava
  • Inclusion of the OsijekAirportinto the passenger transport network of the national air carrier, its international linkage, and increase in cargo traffic

Through reconciliation of possible particular interests, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region should provide a well coordinated, joint approach of the Danubian countries to the multi-dimensional development of the entire region. It is only through dedicated cooperation of all interested parties, on all the levels of governance, that the Danube region may realise its full potential and become the engine to drive the development in Europe at large. Some of the most important Croatian projects helping to achieve this goal and improve the overall traffic situation of the Danuberegion include:

  • Construction of a multipurpose canal Danube-Sava
  • Reparation of the riverbed and riverbanks of the river Danube
  • Reconstruction and improvement of the waterway of the river Sava

In accordance with the Croatian legislation, in order to implement these projects, an appropriate assessment of the impact of plans, programmes and projects on the ecological network and nature protection measures and conditions, is in course.

2. Environmental protection and risk management

The river Danube is the defining joint determinant, which is why any environmental issues related to the Danube clearly require joint measures by the countries in the Danube area. To this end, one of the great environmental challenges on both sides of the border is the prevention of the damage caused by massive floods. Furthermore, there is much room for undertaking joint measures to prevent transborder pollution, considering that the pollutants generated within and beyond the Danube area are transported through waterways and the tributaries of the Danube.

The flood plain of the river Danube and adjacent wetlands are important to Croatia for their hydrological resources, biological diversity and natural assets. The most important natural asset in this area is the KopačkiRitNaturePark, the best preserved wetland in the river Danube basin in Central Europe. Protection of natural assets, monitoring natural processes, education and visits to the protected areas constitute a basis for the economic progress of the area focused on the development of leisure and health tourism, and related to the rich cultural and historical legacy of the Danube area.

Waste management

Waste management is a challenge to the environment that the border area has to cope with right away. Waste management system in the Republic of Croatia is regulated by two documents, the Waste Management Strategy and the Waste Management Plan (2007-2015). To attain objectives set out in the Strategy, Croatia has transposed all relevant EU directives and strives to implement the system.

  • Development of waste management infrastructure

Integrated water management

Achieving comprehensive and harmonised water regime on the state territory is the basic goal of water management. This includes care for the spatial distribution and construction of the water system, and the quantity and quality of water as best suits the specific area and the specific time.

  • Providing sufficient quantities of drinking water for the public water supply and the necessary quantities of water of appropriate quality for various economic purposes
  • Protection of persons and assets against the damage caused by water, achieving and maintaining water quality to protect the water and water-dependant ecosystems

Protection of biological, landscape and geological diversity

Protection and preservation of the ecosystem of the Danube basin are prerequisites to sustainable development that integrates and harmonises the economic interests in water management, navigation and traffic, tourism and other activities. Through preventing negative anthropogenic effects, collecting data and transferring information, raising the level of protection and education, it is possible to raise the level of preservation of biological diversity, particularly of the habitats and species from the list of the European ecological network NATURA 2000 that are numerous in the Croatian Danube basin.

  • Effective collection of data and transfer of information about biological, landscape and geological diversity and the NATURA 2000 ecological network; raising the level of protection of the biological, landscape and geological diversity of the NATURA 2000 network; achieving the optimum model of preservation of the protected area

Cooperation between the Danube states can contribute to the effective implementation of EU Directives on habitats and birds and the realisation of the Mura-DravaRegionalPark as the future UNESCO MAB reservation (cooperation between Croatia and Hungary).

Climate change

Climate change brings increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events that have already visited a number of countries in this area (floods and drought). Some activities in fighting/mitigating drought have already been undertaken within the framework of the joint project of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the World Meteorological organisation (WMO) through establishment of the Drought Management Centre for Southeastern Europe (DMCSEE).

  • Regional cooperation in estimating the effect of climate change and appraising and implementing adjustment measures (joint actions for the prevention of flood and drought, exchange of experience, education)
  • Cooperation and exchange of experience in the adjustment to and mitigation of climate change

Soil protection and sustainable land management