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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A European Union official says Romania will receive 59 million euros ($68 million) to modernize shipping routes along the River Danube.
Corina Cretu, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, said in a Tuesday statement that the money from the EU's cohesion funds would unlock "the enormous potential of commercial river traffic," and boost the regional economy, predicting river traffic to increase by 50 percent.
Cretu said the funds would make river navigation safer and protect areas threatened by flooding. The money will be invested in modernizing two floodgates in eastern Romania that link the Danube to the Black Sea.
The Danube is Europe's second longest river after the Volga and flows through nine countries, starting in Germany's Black Forest, before passing through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine.
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