(f)there is evidence resulting from the performance review for a priority that there has been a serious failure in achieving that priority's milestones relating to financial and output indicators and key implementation steps set out in the performance framework subject to the conditions set out in Article 22.

The Danube is part of the main trans-European Rhine-Main-Danube transport waterway, which links the North Sea and Black Sea via the ports of Rotterdam and Constanţa.

11. Calls therefore on the Commission and the Member States to cooperate in developing and enhancing the accessibility and navigability of the Rhine-Main-Danube Axis, which links the North Sea, via the Port of Rotterdam, to the Black Sea, via the Port of Constanta, by extending and modernising all infrastructure (ports, airports, road and rail) and creating a multi-modal transport system all along the canal;

10. Calls on the Commission to draw on the operational experience gained with the Baltic Sea Strategy; asks, accordingly, for an action plan to complement the document; is of the opinion that that action plan should include the following elements: environment-friendly upgrading of the Danube to a more efficient waterway, interconnection with the highly developed Rhine region via the Rhine-Main-Danube Axis, intermodality along the Danube, environment-friendly upgrading of hydroelectric facilities along the Danube, preservation and improvement of Danube water quality in accordance with the Water Framework Directive, stringent vessel safe ...[+++]ty requirements, development of environment-friendly tourism and improvements in the fields of education, research and social cohesion;

1. Welcomes the agenda for new skills and jobs as part of the EU 2020 strategy, pointing to the need for increasingly high skills, as only a workforce that is skilled is of fundamental importance for the development of a competitive, sustainable and innovative economy, and considers that development policies should be created geared to upgrading the system for science and innovation, promoting improved employability, growth and social cohesion so that the agenda for new skills and jobs will adapt to the post-crisis period and prevent the recurrence of such a crisis in the future; in this context, underlines the importance of concrete an ...[+++]d consistent measures for the training of the workforce;

This makes inland waterways an important subject for us Austrians, as we are connected by water to the West, to the Rhine-Main-Meuse system that is to be found there, but also, and above all, to the south and east.