EU Strategy for the Danube Region: Multilevel Cooperation and Partnership Across Borders – Regional, Participatory, Direct

Abstract

The EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) is a large-scale strategy for territorial cooperation and regional development of defined EU and non-EU countries – a functional area defined by its river basin. As one of four so-called EU macro-regional strategies, the EUSDR includes nine EU Member States: Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania; three EU accession candidate countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro; and two EU neighbouring states: Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.15The Danube Region, as diverse as it seems at first glance, is united by a multitude of common challenges relevant to all citizens living in the region. Challenges such as climate change, pollution, mobility, sustainable development, employment, competition or security exceed the solution competences of the individual states or regions – an overarching cooperation is therefore not only necessary, but also highly profitable for all states involved in the Strategy. This article describes the functioning and implementation of the EUSDR, its governance structure and core-stakeholders, and puts a special focus on multi-level cooperation and partnership across borders. The text is based on the recent governance documents, which were prepared by the Danube Strategy Point in cooperation with EUSDR Presidencies since 2018. The authors of this article contributed to the most referenced documents.