In 2010/2011, the European Council launched the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. Ten years after, the European Commission published a revised Action Plan. Preceding the publication, the EUSDR Presidency started a process that took stock of the achievements and challenges in the Danube Region in 2019. With this, the EUSDR Governance aimed at preparing a new Action Plan that reflects current and future needs for better quality of life in the region. At the same time, the document aims at providing guidance for the programming period 2021-2027.
Finally, the European Commission published a revised Action Plan for the EU Strategy for the Danube Region on the 6th of April 2020. Based on the consultation of thematic and national coordinators, Steering Groups, further stakeholder groups, and line DGs, DG Regio drafted a document that encompasses 85 Actions for the Danube Region. Furthermore, the document includes strageic objectives and concrete tragets for the actions.
Priority Area 10 | Institutional Capacity – Funding – Civil Society & Local Actors
Against this background, Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation” contributes to the strategy’s objectives with eight actions. In doing so, the actions address three main thematic clusters:
Institutional Capacity |
| ACTION 1: To improve institutional capacities in order to provide high-quality public services |
| ACTION 2: To facilitate the administrative cooperation of communities living in border regions |
Funding |
| ACTION 3: To review bottlenecks relating to the low absorption rate of EU funds and Invest EU. |
| ACTION 4: To support better coordination of funding. |
| ACTION 5: To test and support innovative funding solutions (for local actors and civil society). |
Civil Society & Local Actors |
| ACTION 6: To foster cooperation built on mutual trust between state and non-state actors to enhance well-being for the inhabitants of the Danube Region. |
| ACTION 7: To strengthen the involvement of civil society and local actors in the Danube Region |
| ACTION 8: To enhance capacities of cities and municipalities to facilitate local and regional development |
Revised EUSDR Action Plan – What’s next?
The document marks a starting point to actively engage in the programming of EU funding 2021-2027. Currently, the Croatian EUSDR Presidency launched the first phase of the embedding process for the Danube Strategy. Thereby, Priority Area Coordinators consult with their Steering Group to select the most relevant policies in their Priority Areas for programming in the ESIF, IPA III, and NDICI. Likewise, the publication of the revised Action Plan provides an opportunity to consult with stakeholders on the smart use of policies, networks, platforms, and funding to successfully implement the defined actions.
The revised EUSDR Action Plan can be downloaded below or in the Document section of this website.
