The Danube and Europe's Future

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This video is for all the Austrian subscribers who kept asking me to make a video touching on the country I live in. It's about the Danube, the second-longest river in Europe that flows through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. One of the most interesting things about the Danube is that rivers like it are usually economic cores of industry and trade, but the Danube is not. This is due to a century of neglect in development, and we examine that neglect and its consequences in this video.

Geopolitics in post-Imperial Europe (0:00)
What is the Danube? (2:49)
The Danube's use in history​ (6:21)
A century of neglect (8:08)
Forget the Balkans (11:22)
Why Serbia matters for the Danube (12:32)
Why the Danube matters for Europe (16:54)
Groupings and Regional politics of Europe (19:08)
Outro (24:36)

Thank you again, and don't forget to subscribe to watch more.

[bmp]

The fact that Austria is now against Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen area really puts the brakes on any future tightening of relationship between those countries.

[Keyboard_Thoughts]

i like how countryballs became an universally accepted way to depict countries

[stefanneculae]

Kraut: austria and hungary want further danube integration within the EU
🇷🇴: can we join schengen?
🇦🇹:no

[SoManyDucks]

Slight correction. The US actually has an extremely extensive freight railroad infrastructure. From what I've read, it seems that moving goods by railroad in the US is even cheaper than in most of the EU. The US has absolutely shitty *passenger* railroad infrastructure.

That said, the Mississippi basin is absolutely still heavily used for bulk transport of goods and water is still always going to be cheaper than rail.

[sidexrulz]

As a Romanian, I wouldn't say we ignored the Danube after WW2, although we probably could have done some smarter things with it and we did pollute it horribly. The first notable investment on the Danube was the Iron Gates 1 dam, built in cooperation (50/50) with Yugoslavia between 1964 and 1972. When running at full power, it covers about 15% of our peak power demand. It is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the entire E.U. It also improves and makes safer the navigation upstream of the dam, on a previously difficult sector of the river. Another dam was built downstream from it, Iron Gates 2, also in cooperation with Serbia. A third dam was planned as a collaboration with Bulgaria, preliminary works started but then painfully dragged on and were subsequently abandoned. This project resurfaces as a conversation topic every 4-5 years, usually before elections. We also built vast irrigation systems in the south, that rely on the Danube. These systems are essential for our agricultural output and to prevent the slow desertification of a region called Oltenia (the south of it is especially prone to desertification).

As for the Danube-Black Sea canal, as others have previously stated here, the idea itself is not a stupid one. Constanta is the largest port in the Black Sea basin. Ocean going ships can transfer freight to barges and then the barges are sent through the canal, saving time and fuel by avoiding a detour through the Danube Delta. It also allowed the creation of some smaller inland ports. It is used to supply irrigation water in Dobrogea as this is a quite arid part of our country. Last but not least, it helps provide cooling water for our nuclear power plant at Cernavoda. In the event the USSR and then Russia gained control over the mouths of the Danube, the canal would have allowed us to continue shipping on the Danube in direct connection with our main port. When the Russians occupied Snake Island in february we got a good reminder of this, as that put any ship going through the mouths of the Danube in range of their anti ship missiles. Should the russians try to advance south through Dobrogea, the canal would act as a last line of defense. Economically, strategically and from an engineering point of view, the canal makes sense. Sadly, this is understandably overshadowed by the human tragedy that was its construction.

An important aspect regarding various ways of carrying freight - barge transportation is indeed the cheapest way of doing it, however, it is ideal if what you are carrying is large in volume, low in cost/ton and usually non-perishable. Iron ore, coal, coke, fertilizers, phosphates, oil, petrochemicals, aggregates, cement and bulk grain (historically the most important freight carried on the Danube). This is direct contrast with our current just-in-time model of doing business, that demands the fastest logistical systems and the shortest delivery times. Rail and especially trucks dominate this category and it is inherently impossible for barges to compete. As the European economy continues its shift towards high value, high tech production, more strain will be added on the systems that allow for fast logistics. Coal is on its way out, oil will probably follow to a large degree. With our current energy situation and environmental policies, I'm not very hopeful regarding the need for iron ore and fertilizers. What will remain and probably grow will be grain transportation. In Romania, this reality is reflected in the location of most new investments - nearly all new factories and logistical centers are built in areas served by our (slowly) growing highway network. Port cities on the Danube, once important economical centers, are in decline and slowly depopulating. This is also true for northern Bulgaria.

The first thing I would do would be adding more bridges over the Danube. There are at least 3 new bridges to Bulgaria that would make sense, together with replacing the main link between Romania and Bulgaria, a decrepit road-rail bridge from the '50s.

[entropy]

Hungarian here, sending hugs to every fellow Danubians on the Blue string of Europe (The Danube, as we call it ;)). Especially to our Romanian friends. Hope we can forget the hatred from our past and be up for a better future. HU❤RO

[komnenus]

The notion that the Balkan peninsula is not a cultural group is entirely wrong. Despite the painful history of the peninsula and the common distrust between the nations, a Greek will have a much easier time culturaly understanding a Bulgarian or a Bosniak than a Frenchman. Its more that the imperial legacy of the Ottomans (and even before them the East Romans) that kept these peoples within the same state structure that facilitated cultural exchange among them. That does not only boil down to foodstuffs, it can be found in music, national epics and even subconcious cultural notions of how one is to act and what makes one a good person. So to recap, yes the Balkans are not a set in stone geographic region but the certainly ARE a cultural region.

[stevenarnold]

Kraut, CaspianReport, Mr. Mitchell History. YouTube be providing us with way better global commentary than mainstream news

[selcovoilucian]

After the Schengen veto i am in doubt that Bulgaria and Romania would join any project witch involves Austria

[cterence]

Can you believe that The Blue Danube is such a popular piece of music that they made a real river based on it? 😂

[Strettger]

18:38 "a sort of EU enclave outside the EU". @kraut the word you're looking for here is "exclave".

[CaApa]

the Danube Black Sea canal was made to preserve the unique characteristics of the rivers basin, in Romania. By creating it, the natural delta was not disturbed.

[aviztar]

Coincidentally, on this very day The Dutch government stated that they approve of Croatia and Romania's bids to join Schengen, but that they would block Bulgaria from entering the free movement zone. If this does come to pass and The Netherlands get their way, then the Northern part of the Danube will be the border between the EU and the rest of Europe.

Also, a note on Romania:

At the moment, the political class is livid with Austria for a number of reasons: the recent statements of certain austrian politicians regarding our bid to join Schengen, the closeness some of them seem to have with Russia, and various corruption scandals that involve austrian companies. This has lead certain pundits and talking heads to advocate for us to distance ourselves from Austria. As such, they are calling for a "divorce" between Romania and Austria, with Petrom to be taken back (by force, if necessary) from OMV, as well as jailing the heads of various austrian logging companies that have been accused of illegal practices in Romanian forests. Note that the loudest of these figures is Andrei Caramitru, who styles himself as being a technocrat, center left, pro-EU, pro-NATO, and a former counselor to the head of our pro-EU, pro-social democracy party, USL. Which means it is not comming (only) from the populist and/or extremist political parts of the country.

The population is also more or less in line with this: they hate the way Petrom was sold of for what they view as nothing, they hate what the austrain logging companies have done in Romanian forests, and they are hostile to the ideea of a Danubian state or block (or whatever it can be called as it reminds them too much of the Austrian-Hungarian empire (which they despise).

As such, Romanian politicians and political talking heads are favoring the Intermarium (the bigger and more ambitious version of Visegrad).

[Ionel]

I gotta say I disagree on the whole danube canal thing

You see the Danube's mouth is incredibly marshy you really can't build anything at it's end, meanwhile move a little south and you've got perfectly dry land to make an actual port, thus this canal makes Danube trade economically viable

Another most likely unintended but still very fun side effect is that it leaves the Danube delta alone as a wonderful little nature reserve

[marten]

This video aged like milk after Austrias Schengen veto against Romania and Bulgaria...

[hunord.]

I can't believe Kraut just said: "Oh it's Zeihan time!" And Mississippied all over the Danube!

[TheGamblingisgood]

As a citizen of a country that I hope may join the EU at some point, this video was very informative. I'm British :(

[EUTalks]

Why was Causescu stupid? He bult a navigable canal straight to Constanta harbor, one of the biggest in Europe, and saved the Danube Delta from industrialization this way. Even more, a part of the Navigable Danube Delta was part of USSR because Stalin, so Romania had to rely on USSR for passing there.
He was not stupid and not everything Romanians did in that period was stupid.

[ThMkrn]

3:21 "u have big long juicy coastline madamme"-Kraut attempting to flirt with a Croatian Women...probably

[razvanmazilu]

Kraut, I think you have some inaccuracies here. The idea of the Danube-Black Sea canal has nothing to do with Ceaușescu. It was first proposed in the late 19th century, with the intention being to shorten the distance ships had to travel to the port of Constanța by several hundred kilometres. The engineering study, which would eventually lead to its construction, was performed in the late '20s. It's true that the construction started under the communists, in 1949, but this was before Ceaușescu. It would be accurate to say he was responsible for completing it, but it wasn't his idea, nor did he begin it. Also I don't understand the bit about Ceaușescu having to pay transport fees. Most of the Danube flows into the Black Sea through Romania. About 75% of the Danube Delta is part of Romania, two of the three major branches that flow into the sea are fully within Romania, while the third is shared with Ukraine (previously with the USSR), much in the same way the Danube is shared with Bulgaria to the south or with Serbia to the south west. What exactly would he pay for?

Edit: also I missed the part where Moldova is separated from Romania by the Carpathian mountains. Moldova is separated from Romania by the river Prut, there are no mountains in the way. Perhaps you're confusing the larger historical region of Moldova (or Moldavia) with the modern day country of Moldova.

Also I'm not sure where this rail line between Bucharest and Vienna that cost billions is supposed to be. There are Bucharest-Vienna trains, but they run on existing rail lines. Nothing new, at least in Romania. There have been talks of a high speed rail line between Bucharest and Vienna, but I'm sure not a single meter of it has been built in Romania. Don't know about Austria or Hungary.