The EU Strategy for the Danube Region in the Programming Process for 2014–2020

The stakeholders of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region met for the second time to reflect how the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds can support the implementation of the strategy, and how the Strategy can support the ESI Funds, adding a cooperation perspective. Meeting participants focused on infrastructure investments, competitiveness, innovation and social affairs, and ways to include the Strategy in the operational programs of 2014–2020, which is a legal obligation for the majority of such programs in the Danube region.

The meeting was held in Stuttgart on June 21, 2013, bringing together national contact points, priority area coordinators, coordinators of Partnership Agreements and their equivalents for the IPA and ENI Programmes in the Danube Region, as well as national or regional contact persons in charge of the ESI Funds Operational Programmes for 2014–2020.

About the EU Strategy for the Danube Region

The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region is a macroregional strategy adopted by the European Commission in 2010 and endorsed by the European Council in 2011. The strategy was designed to take advantage of synergies and coordination between existing policies and initiatives across the Danube region and thus improve connectivity within the region as well as with the rest of Europe. As part of the EUSDR, the CEF and the City of Vienna are coordinators of institutional capacity and cooperation, one of the eleven priority areas of the strategy.