Save the date for the 10th Danube Participation Day in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 23 October 2023!
This year, the Danube Participation Day will address the topic “Ukraine’s recovery towards EU membership”. Thereby, we aim at exploring the questions: What are the potentials the local and regional level in Ukraine and the cooperation of civil society and local actors in the Danube Region offer to the accession process? And how can the EU Danube Strategy facilitate stakeholder cooperation for recovery and EU accession?
Setting the scene for the 10th Danube Participation Day
In June 2022, four months after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Council granted both Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union. Shortly after, in July 2022, Ukraine adopted together with 40 countries the guiding principles for the recovery process in Ukraine in Lugano (CH) – the so-called “Lugano Principles”, addressing the following seven priorities:
- Partnership
- Reform Focus
- Transparency, Accountability and rule of law
- Democratic participation
- Multi-stakeholder engagement
- Gender equality and inclusion
- Sustainability
Both, the reform process of EU accession and the recovery process under the Lugano Principles, reaffirm the vision of a prosperous, sustainable, inclusive Ukraine based on the principles of good governance.
But the transformation process of Ukraine and Moldova does not start from scratch: Initiatives such as the Eastern Partnership and the participation in the EU Danube Strategy established long-standing cooperation networks and built capacities that offer valuable resources in the current architecture that shapes the reform and recovery processes.
In particular, the EU Danube Strategy provides a framework that aims at strengthening cooperation in Europe by linking policies, partner networks, and funding that takes the specific characteristics of the Danube Region into account.
More importantly, the EU Danube Strategy facilitates new spaces for cooperation for civil society and representatives from local and regional authorities in European cooperation aiming at supporting broad participation for viable regional development.
But how, fit frameworks like the EU Danube Strategy concretely in the recovery architecture of Ukraine? What concrete support can the strategy offer civil society and local/regional authorities to meaningfully participate in their countries’ transition towards EU accession?
How can stakeholders from EU countries and accession countries shape macro-regional cooperation that facilitates cooperation for recovery?
Save the Date!
We are looking forward to welcoming you at the 10th Danube Participation Day in Ljubljana. Further information for registration will follow in due course.
More information on the preliminary agenda and potential support for covering travel costs are available here.
