Regensburg, November 27, 2012

Dear Ministers, Dear Johannes, Ladies and Gentlemen,

These were just one and a half years ago, in June 2011, the European Council endorsed the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, as proposed by the European Commission, approved by the Council and all that was negotiated during the Hungarian EU Presidency. We planted a grape in a fertile soil of our rich common cultural and natural heritage. The roots of the grape are the fourteen countries of the region while the branches and the vine are the so-called eleven priority areas.

What is the Danube Region Strategy for me? It is a couple of things. Many of those things have already been mentioned this afternoon. I hope that I will not repeat everything that has been said. Just one or two points. For me, first and foremost the Danube Region Strategy is what we call Central Europe, or the wider Central Europe. It is a cultural and spiritual heritage, it is diversity and it is creativity. But it is in fact a reflection and a symbol of what we now call a growing awareness of being Central European, as I said, in a wider sense.

Second, the Danube Region Strategy, no doubt, reflects a philosophy and hopefully practice of inclusion or inclusiveness. Inclusiveness in at least three senses. One I have already referred to: this is that here you have an anticipated enlargement of the European Union. Because, in addition to the Member States, we do have candidates, we have aspirants, we have neighbourhood countries. So, this diversity of membership also reflects to my mind an openness and an inclusiveness of the whole European integration process.

But the Danube Region Strategy is inclusive also in another sense and this is very well reflected by this conference. This is not a matter of governance, it is not even a matter of European institutions. It is impossible to achieve it successfully without your contribution, as it has been just underlined by Johannes Hahn himself.

We need NGOs. We need all the civil organizations. We need citizens. We need everybody, so this will be a common ownership. Not just the government, not just the institutions, but everybody. This is the second sense of inclusiveness, which I wanted to underline.

The Danube Region Strategy is inclusive also in that sense that we have to give a strong economic and social dimension to this strategy. This is a dimension of economic and social inclusion: inclusion of marginalized communities, inclusion of minorities, inclusion of the Roma. We should not forget that in this part of Europe this is an extremely important challenge we are all faced with. So that is the second element of inclusion or inclusiveness.

The Danube Strategy also means sustainability for me. Sustainability, again in the widest possible sense. It is the preservation of our natural heritage. It is not just a cultural heritage, it is also a natural heritage. We have serious a responsibility towards the next generations. We are already indebted enough. Let’s not be more indebted towards the generations that will follow us. That means ecology. That means environment. That means an awareness which, I believe, is a crucial factor for us, and indeed for the future generations.

That brings me to the next important message and this is for us Hungarians extremely important. This is just water. Water is the real global issue in the present world. If there is a genuinely global challenge or issue in the present world, this is, no doubt, water. It is also food. It is also energy. But first and foremost it is water. It is water management. It is clean water. It is sanitation. It is many other things. Just to demonstrate the global nature of water, I just would like to let you know that we had this ASEAN Summit a couple of weeks ago, in Laos, Vientiane. We discussed a lot about the commonalities, the similarities and the possible exchange between the Danube Region Strategy and the Mekong Region Strategy. And we now work together because we realized that despite the distance, despite some differences in the challenges, there are many things in common. We have to be confronted with the same challenges. We have to cope with them together.

The Danube Strategy also means energy, no doubt. It means connection in every possible sense: connection by infrastructure, connection by transportation, connection by pipelines, connection by the Internet, connections by many other things. But this is not just an infrastructural issue. This is basically first and foremost, and that has also been said before, connection between people, between human beings. That is why tourism is such an important element of this Danube Region Strategy. That is why security or safety is a key element, another important dimension of this.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Of course, the real question which I should have talked about is not this. But this is basically about competitiveness, because this conference is basically about competitiveness. Because it is quite understandable, we are now still in a crisis. And clearly we approach most elements of our present life through the economic or financial consequences or repercussions. And that is correct. But we should not forget that the Danube Region Strategy is an extremely important leverage and added value to increase competitiveness of the whole region, to generate growth, to create jobs and employment. There are already a number of successful projects being implemented, which all aim at this objective, at this goal. I am sure that all these projects will be successful.

We need a regional approach, an inter-regional approach with respect to investments, with respect to transport, energy, infrastructure, tourism, research and development. And if we can do it, then we will also find the synergy between the Danube Region Strategy on the one hand, and the Europe 2020 Strategy on the other.

And that perhaps brings me to my final point. This is that the Danube Region Strategy cannot be successfully implemented without a strong, an efficient and well-financed Cohesion Policy. If we deny, if I mention resources needed for the Cohesion Policy, which is the most successful policy after all of the European integration process - looking back to the last couple of decades. Then of course we largely reduce the potential and the possibility of success for the Danube Region Strategy. I hope this will not be the case. I understand that we all realize that the stakes are high. Only because this afternoon Oscar Wilde was quoted briefly, to my mind came another quotation from the same person, Oscar Wilde. He said: “The cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope that we are not cynics. Of course we are aware of the price of everything, because everything has a price now in our present world. But we also have to be aware of the value. If we try to strike a balance between the two, I am very much optimistic. I am very much optimistic not only for the successful implementation of the Danube Region Strategy, but also of the European construction as a whole. Thank you very much for your attention. 

(Külügyminisztérium)