VIENNA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Austria's Foreign Policy Minister Michael Spindelegger met EU Commissioner for Regional Policy PawelSamecki on Monday in Vienna to discuss the new Danube-project.

    "The Danube is not just a symbol for the merging Europe, but also a main part of European identity," Spindelegger said, according to the press release from the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs on Monday.

    Furthermore, he pointed out, the European Council was ordered to initiate this strategy until 2010. The activities and programs of European and neighboring states have to get brought together. Austria will actively work on this project, starting with a position paper in December.

    Spindelegger calls the plan a "bottom-up" concept, where regions, cities, municipal communities and non-governmental organizations have to be integrated equally to the states.

    Moreover, Spindelegger said that Austria will support the consistency of a better usage and security of the Danube.