Macro-regional strategies represent a political framework that allows countries in the same region to make better use of joint development potential. Through territorial cooperation at the macro-regional level, the participating countries coordinate and achieve their national interests, producing a greater and faster effect in comparison to acting independently in areas of regional significance. An EU non-member state's equal participation in macro-regional cooperation significantly contributes to the processes of European integration and sharing of useful knowledge and experience.

The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) provides numerous opportunities for economic, social and cultural cooperation among countries along the Danube, a river with the most prominent international character in the world, a significant international hydro-biological pool, and a homogenous ecological corridor. Achieving the common goals of the Strategy’s participating countries, finding sustainable solutions, and continually raising quality at all levels of management are added values with which the EUSDR (Danube Strategy) contributes to the development of a prosperous Danube region.

In the post-2020 period, macro-regional strategies, including the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, will largely depend on the way in which European Union policies are implemented. In this extremely demanding process, it is important to raise the awareness of political and other relevant actors of the importance and potential of macro-regional cooperation and its added value for efficient and secure investments in the region. The Croatian Programme for the Presidency of the EU for the Danube Region prioritizes areas crucial to the sustainability of macro-regional cooperation and its importance for further development of the Danube Region.