Working Community of the Danube Regions Presidency of Upper
Austria in 2009: "Sustainably Shaping the Future of the Danube
Regions" The year 2009 and the following years are of special
importance for the Danube region. The "iron curtain" which has
separated Europe over decades fell twenty years ago. Five years
ago, the European Union (EU) was successfully enlarged towards
the east. The cooperation of the Danube Regions enabled an
economic growth that resulted in a prosperity by which all
Europe has profited. After Linz in 2009, Pécs was European
Cultural Capital in 2010. With Hungary, one of the Danube states
held the EU presidency in the first half of 2011. With Croatia
and its two member regions of the Working Community of the
Danube Regions, another state of the Danube Region will -
presumably on July 1, 2013 - become a member of the European
Union. During this important year 2009, Upper Austria had the
presidency of the Working Community of the Danube Regions for
the second time after 1994. The presidency