EU ACROSSEE Project Workshop held in Brussels

On April 3rd 2014 a Workshop of the project “Accessibility Improved at Border Crossings for the Integration of South-East Europe (ACROSSEE)” took take place at the European Parliament in Brussels. Many distinguished guests from DG MOVE, DG REGIO and national ministries attended the conference.

The Conference was attended by Members of the European Parliament (Transport Committee), representatives of the European Commission (Directorates General for Regional Affairs Policy and Mobility & Transport), Ministries of Transport and infrastructure Infrastructure (Austria, Croatia, Italy), Regions (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Smolyan), Universities (Venice International University and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest), Chambers of Commerce (Belgrade, Venice and Trieste) and other relevant stakeholders from the South East Europe (SEE) region.

 

The aim of the event was to illustrate to the European legislators and relevant stakeholders the main objectives and results achieved so far by the ACROSSEE project and to discuss effective strategies for supporting European integration of the SEE region through regional cooperation in the field of transport, by easing up transport red tape and cross-border bottlenecks which are major obstacle to unleashing SEE’s economic potential.

After outlining the main results achieved so far by ACROSSEE, the main priorities and challenges of European Territorial Cooperation, especially in the Danube area Region, and the impact of the new Trans European Transport Networks (TEN-T) Regulation were addressed by representatives of the European Commission and Italy’s Transport Ministry.

European MP Antonio Cancian from Italy opened his speech emphasising the importance of connecting. Western Balkans not only have their strength in former fifth and tenth Pan European corridors, which are now part of the TEN-T network, but there is a new axis called Baltic-Adriatic corridor which gives a whole SEE area even stronger transport importance.

Alain Barone from DG MOVE said that not only building infrastructure in SEE area is important, but also the organisation of transport. A large help in the region is provided by SEETO with its headquarters in Belgrade. In his opinion, countries on the Balkan Peninsula are not using its great potentials, therefore making it harder for the rest of the Europe to make even higher growth.

He concluded that two keywords when it comes to integration of Western Balkans with the rest of Europe are cooperation and synergy. He added that money is important but it is not the key element in order to make changes. Therefore, project like ACROSSEE which aim to boost cross border transport are of high value to the whole EU.

 

Irina Ploeg Cruceru from DG REGIO said that due to differences among European regions, many of them need specific strategies in order to develop themselves. Therefore, many existing and new European funds for regional development are predicting a lot of money to be spend for transport and for the specific needs of transport in particular regions, because transport is an important sector for growth.

Carlo Fortuna from CEI, project manager of the ACROSSEE project, concluded that integration of the Western Balkans is not only important for Western Balkans itself, but also for the entire EU.

ACROSSEE/A. Klečina

Photos: Ante Klečina