The Association Danube Moldova Noua was represented by its President, Mr. Cornel MARTIN to the High Level Stakeholders Event dedicated to the ”European Maritime Day” (Senate of Romania, 31 May 2019). He actively participated to the debates and, in his intervention, stressed the need for a stronger support for projects in the Danube Gorge and also mentioned the partnership within the Danube Upgrade Project.
Taking into account the results of the consultation with all relevant Romanian and European stakeholders, the participants and guests representing the civil society and the academic and business environment adopted by consensus the Road Map on the sustainable and inclusive development of the Danube River area, Constanta Harbor and Constanta Maritime Area.
On the basis of a list of strong and weak points of the current geo-economic context, the main requests and recommendations towards the European Commission, European Parliament, as well as to the Romanian Parliament and relevat central authorities in Romania, available until 2030, are:
- in view of reintegrating in the economic and tourism flow of as many as possible areas and objectives within our sub-region, the requirement of completing and improving the legislative and administrative framework in the Danube – Constanta – Black Sea Basin;
- the need for deepening the awareness concerning the fact that all major problems are related to areas and interior rivers of the Danube, including the concerns from the upper Danube, we ask to re-focus the approach about our sub-region and move to smart measures such as: navigability, tourism, preservation of biodiversity, the promotion of brands and destinations, digitalisation, etc;
- considering that EUSDR is consecrated to fulfill a sustainable development, but also the inclusive urban innovation, it is extremely important to move to a real territorial planning and urban standardisation in a much more intense rhythm, in co-operation with the relevant cross-border partners;
- linking to the already achieved dynamics of projects and results through the implementation of the Danube Transnational Program (DTP), it is highly recommended to promote the new multi-level governance system, of the “open coordination”, other innovative forms of collaborative leadership already successfully tested in other Danubian states and from the Black Sea Basin;
- at this stage, it results that it is urgent to initiate and expand the structured consultations at national and European level on a regular basis, especially for the reintegration of Port and City of Constanta as a fanion-symbolic area in favor of the necessary changes and the recovery of the place desired by Constanta and the entire region of Dobrudja and of the Danube Delta at the level of maritime policies and industries and in correlation with the current globalizing economic;
- it is the right time to stress the meaning of approaching an inclusive vision in co-relation with the targeted reduction of social gaps, implementing in a bolder manner the vectors of social innovation, of decisional transparency and the combate of corruption in all key sectors;
- last but not least, we consider that it is crucial to pragmatically rethink the entire territorial planning and cooperation, especially through transnational projects, leading to more stability and prosperity for as many citizens as possible.
Such ambitious steps are to be fulfilled mainly through:
- establishing a calendar of initiatives and measures and clear responsibilities, aimed to implement the above mention recommendations;
- in order to avoid a shift and decoupling of Romania from the development of the EU as well as of the neighboring states, the revolutionary transforming process and visionary approach regarding the future social-economic evolution of Romania in the future sub-regional and global context
- setting-up a short list of priority projects of Romania and their related practical support also of main partners through the implementation of the already funded transnational soft projects, which need to be supported by ITI type financing in the next EU financial framework.
The moderation and the presentation of the final version of the Road Map were ensured by Sever AVRAM, Executive President of EUROLINK-House of Europe Foundation and Danube Regional Commissioner on behalf of CLDR Romania.