The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic has joined today the JRC initiative to provide scientific support to the Danube strategy. The President of this Academy, Jiří Drahoš, and the JRC Director General, Dominique Ristori, signed the agreement in the context of a high-level conference organised in Brussels. The conference brought together 100 attendees, among whom policy makers, the scientists and interested stakeholders, including Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission. Attendees discussed key challenges in implementing the EU Danube strategy during this meeting, focusing on the four pillars of the initiative: environmental protection, irrigation and agricultural development, navigability and energy production. The need for better European governance in the area, as already identified by the European Council was also addressed, and concrete cooperation and coordination actions were discussed.
This is the seventh Academy of Sciences from the Danube region that joins the initiative. The JRC already signed a Letter of Intent on 17 November 2011 with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), the Romanian Academy (RA) and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). On 8 February 2012 the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and on 19 March 2012 the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (BAdW) joined the initiative.
The initiative is open to other countries' National Academies and relevant research bodies from the region to join in, contribute and benefit from the common activities of the partnership.
The EU strategy for the Danube region was endorsed by the European Council in June 2011, calling on all relevant actors to implement it without delay. The JRC initiative aims at providing a strong scientific base for the implementation of this Strategy.
26 Apr 2012