Meeting of the Working Group on legal and financial issues of the Danube Commission

The Meeting of the Working Group on legal and financial issues (WG JUR-FIN) of the Danube Commission (DC) was held under the Chairmanship of the Representative of Germany, Mr Christian Brunsch on 16-18 May 2023 as hybrid meeting.

The delegations of ten Member States of the Danube Commission (the Republic of Austria, Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Republic of Serbia, Slovak Republic and Ukraine) participated in the Meeting.

WG JUR-FIN took note of the Report of the Director General of the Secretariat on the activity of the Secretariat in the period December 2022 – April 2023. It has been noted with concern that the consequences of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine continue to have serious impact on the Danube navigation.

The delegations discussed the progress of cooperation of the Danube Commission with other international stakeholders (especially with the European Commission) as well as several legal topics pertaining to the basic principles of the Belgrade Convention regarding the regime of navigation on the Danube (1948): i) port access practice of the Danubian states; ii) drafting of the new Regulation on the activity of conciliation commissions; iii) validity of the vessel’s certificates issued by the Danubian states which are not members of the European Union and other issues.

This year the Danube Commission marks 75-year anniversary since the signature of the Convention regarding the regime of navigation on the Danube (Belgrade, 1948) and also its 100-th Session (December, 2023). The Secretariat informed on the preparatory administrative arrangements in this regard.