The focus of the seventh parliamentary conference in Zagreb was on encouraging innovative technologies to improve the sustainable development of the Danube region, and on the possibilities of increasing the number of high-tech companies and the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises in the region.
On October 22, 2020, the 9th Annual Forum of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region was held in a virtual form, jointly organized by the Republic of Croatia, the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Programme, with the support of the Danube Strategy Point.
The chairpersons of the National Coordination groups (Trio presidencies) of the 4 EU macro-regional strategies met to connect and to seek joint approaches to common issues.
Main points on its agenda included the new EU Strategy for Danube Region Action Plan – recap of final steps and outlook, the embedding of the Strategy into mainstream programmes in the upcoming EU funding period 2021-2027 and its link to the EU Multiannual Financial Framework.
The new Action plan was updated to properly tackle the future challenges, providing streamlined actions and orientations to use relevant funding instruments in the region.
Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds, as a presiding institution of the Croatian Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, participated in The Macro-Regional Strategies (MRS) Week, held in Brussels, Belgium, 17 - 21 February 2020.
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.
18th European Week of Regions and Cities
Danube Participation Day (back-to-back with the 9th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region)
The 9th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) / The meeting of Ministers responsible for the EU Strategy for the Danube Region
Ministry of Regional Development
and EU Funds
Miramarska cesta 22
10000 Zagreb
