EU Recreates Baltic Sea Strategy on Danube
The European Council on June 24 gave its endorsement of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, a transnational, cooperative effort based on the same model as the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, of which Estonia is a partner.
The council's decision marks the launch of the Danube strategy, the EU's second such macro-regional project. The region covers parts of eight EU countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania) and six non-EU countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova).
Partners will tackle issues including environmental threats, transportation, energy connections, socio-economic development, education, research and innovation systems, and safety and security.
"I am delighted that the EU Strategy for the Danube Region is now officially launched. Many actors are already hard at work preparing for implementation of the strategy. Now they can really get down to the business of turning plans into action," Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, said in a statement.
Hahn said that the Baltic Sea strategy, which was set up in 2009, is already bearing fruit.
“Both strategies are based on a "macro-regional" approach. It brings countries together to cooperate on setting goals, aligning funding, and working together on shared challenges such as sea or river pollution, the need for better transport links, or more secure energy provisions,” he said.
Steve Roman