As a key event of the 2019 EUSDR Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania is jointly organized together with the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Program (DTP), between the 27th and the 28th of June 2019 in Bucharest (Palace of Parliament), the 8th Annual Forum of EUSDR. The event will stand under the motto: “Building cohesion for shared prosperity in the Danube Region”.

The 8th Annual Forum covered topics of particular importance for the Danube region such as connectivity and regional mobility, the fostering of clusters’ development, research and innovation, digitalization, People to People contacts and tourism. The second day of the Forum was dedicated to post-2020 EU policy design, with a focus on the role of Interreg DTP and of the ESI Funds for the region. Emphasis was placed on the possibilities of creating better synergies between macro-regional strategies and EU programs and policies in the framework of the new Cohesion Policy. Discussions over new opportunities for enhancing funding for macro-regional strategies also featured in the program prominently.

The Public Hearings Workshop and the dedicated session about the revision of the EUSDR Action Plan allowed stakeholders to take stock of the ongoing progress of the Revision Process and at the same time to become involved more in shaping the Strategy’s future by sharing concrete proposals for the final stage of EUSDR’s Action Plan Revision. To this purpose, public consultations organized by the Danube Strategy Point with the support of the Romanian EUSDR Presidency.
The Forum preceded by a Ministerial meeting in the morning of the 27th of June, allowing the Ministers in charge of Economic Affairs from the EUSDR participating countries to share views and provide strategic guidance for enhancing competitiveness and economic convergence in the Danube region.
The Ministry for Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship of Romania organized, throughout the duration of this event, an exhibition dedicated to promoting the best practices & success stories of transnational cooperation in the Danube Region.
Business to Business (B2B) sessions organized for the first time within an Annual EUSDR Forum by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and its regional partners, represented by the Romanian Association for Electronic and Software Industry (member of the EEN), also with the support of the Romanian Ministry for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship and the European Commission/ DG GROW.

The 8th EUSDR Annual Forum continued the tradition of bringing together a balanced number of high-level officials and independent civil society experts from both the EU and non-EU countries sharing their expertise on current developments that could impact the Danube region.

Selection of speakers and facilitators has aimed towards the achieving of a gender/national/rural-urban balance and has been based on transparent, competitive, relevance-based criteria as well as on an inclusive process of cooperation with all the relevant Stakeholders.

Danube Civil Society Forum 5th General Assembly

25.06.2019 - 13:30 to 17:30, Bucharest

We are pleased to inform you that the 5th ordinary General Assembly of the DCSF held on 25 June 2019, in Bucharest, Romania.

The EUSDR and the Involvement of Civil Society and Local Actors: Structures, Strategies and Projects

The Danube Region defined by the EU strategy encompasses 115 million inhabitants from 14 countries in the mainland of Europe, from Baden-Württemberg to the Republic of Moldova and Western Ukraine, from the richest to the poorest regions of Europe. The EUSDR addresses a wide range of issues. These are divided among 4 thematic pillars and 12 Priority Areas – ranging from transport to security, from qualification to research and competitiveness, from the environment to culture and tourism, from energy to the improvement of governance. Each Priority Area is managed by two countries as Priority Area Coordinators (PACs) assisted by a steering committee representing all EUSDR member countries as well as relevant experts and organisations. Each country of the EUSDR has a National Coordinator (NC), who keeps an overview of the implementation of the strategy and its targets of the 12 Priority Areas in their country.

Developing the “Guiding Principles of Civil Society in the Danube Region” eventually led in 2011 to the foundation and establishment of the Danube Civil Society Forum (DCSF) on the very day the EUSDR was officially launched in Budapest. This related to the actions of Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation” in the EUSDR Action Plan. The DCSF serves as an umbrella organisation for the representation of civil society interests in the macro-region and is a platform for dialogue and networking amongst civil society organisations.

After almost 10 years as Vice President, Daniela Stojkovic Jovanovic step out from this position. The new Vice President came from Bulgaria. Congratulates to Mrs Iva Taraleckova, the new Vice President of Danube Civil Society Forum.

The Danube Participation Day

The concept of the Participation Days in the EUSDR is based on Art. 11. TEU, committing the EU institutions to “give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views” and to “maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.

Danube Participation Days have been developed by the DCSF, representatives of organised civil society and local stakeholders, supported by Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation”. The Danube Participation Days, linked to the EUSDR Annual Fora, serve as the main meeting of civil society in the framework of the EUSDR and, since 2014, are organised every year as side-events to the EUSDR Annual Fora. The Danube Participation Day is jointly organised by the DCSF, Priority Area 10 in consultation with the Danube Local Actors Platform and in close coordination with the hosting country, the hosting city and the civil society organisations in the hosting country. The Danube Participation Day is open to all stakeholders from civil society and local actors as well as related international and European organisations and institutions and provides civil society and local actors with opportunities to connect and get involved in the implementation of the EUSDR. It reflects the debates and results of the National Participation Days and serves as a lighthouse of participation in the EUSDR governance structure. Since 2014, the Danube Participation Days grew in terms of participants and kept a broad thematic scope related to its core aim: enhancing the participation of local actors at all levels in the Danube Region.

Guidelines for Civil Participation in Political Decision-Making (2017)

On 27 September 2017, the Committee of Ministers adopted guidelines aimed at promoting civil participation in political decision-making in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states. At a time when democracy is challenged by diminishing trust of people towards politicians and elites in general, one of the prerequisites for guaranteeing democratic security is to ensure the participation of all individuals and societal groups in political processes and decision-making. The new guidelines together with other existing texts such as Recommendation (2007)14 on the legal status of non-governmental organisations in Europe and the Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process, now form a solid basis for governments and civil society to work together to strengthen democracy. https://www.coe.int/en/web/civil-society/guidelines

The Danube Participation Days (EUSDR) The Danube Participation Days convenes decision makers, actors, stakeholders and addresses from all levels and policy fields connected to the Danube Strategy. The DPD emphasises the importance of Civil Society and local actors in the EUSDR and their transparent and regular inclusion in the opinion building, concerning the EUSDR and into their implementation.

PARTICIPATION ON THE 8TH ANNUAL FORUM OF THE DANUBE STRATEGY

2019 Annual Forum of the European Union1 Strategy for the Danube Region Date: 27-28 June 2019 Venue: Bucharest, Palace of the Parliament (http://cic.cdep.ro/en)

“Building cohesion for shared prosperity in the Danube Region”

Our involvement:

THEMATIC SESSION 4: Boosting efficiency in connecting EUSDR key stakeholders and the civil society in the process of revising the EUSDR Action Plan (Conference Hall “N. Iorga”)

MODERATOR: Mr. Rudolf SCHICKER, EUSDR DSP Coordinator

Keynote speaker: Mrs. Lena ANDERSSON PENCH, Director, DG REGIO – European Commission

Panellists:

 Mr. Mikko LOHIKOSKI, Strategy Coordinator, Union of the Baltic Cities

 Mr. Stefan LÜTGENAU - President of the Danube Civil Society Forum Austria

 Mr. Miklos BARABAS, Director, European House, Hungary

 Mrs. Liliana IVANOVA, Director, Odessa Regional State Administration, Danube Center for Sustainable Development, Ukraine

 Mrs. Daniela JOVANOVIC, Vice President of the Danube Civil Society Forum, Serbia, President of the NGO World and Danube