§ Mr. MaudeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what proposal was made by the Regional Funding Conference on 30 March to reopen the Danube for international and local traffic; [121830]
(2) what grant the European Commission has given to finance removal of obstacles in the Danube. [121831]
§ Mr. VazOn 25 January the Danube Commission submitted a proposal for clearance of the Danube to the European Commission. The European Union has provisionally agreed to finance 85 per cent. of the total 24.1 million euro cost of the clearance work, conditional on the Danube Commission providing clarification on outstanding technical questions.
The Danube Commission proposal was also cleared by the European Investment Bank and included in a list setting out EIB projects at the Stability Pact Regional Funding Conference on 30 March. The EIB has not, however, agreed additional funding for the proposal.