The area covered by the EUSDR is mainly the basin of the 2.857 km long Danube River, including also the parts of the mountain ranges where its tributaries originate (like the Alps, or the Carpathians). It stretches from the Black Forest (Germany) to the Black Sea (Romania-Moldova-Ukraine) and is home to around 115 million inhabitants. Involving 14 countries, it is the largest and most diverse macro-regional strategy: nine EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, parts of Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia), three Accession Countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia) and Ukraine & Moldova.
The Danube Strategy was formally created on 13 April 2011 when the EU Council endorsed the Communication and the accompanying Action Plan on the EUSDR at the General Affairs Council (Council Conclusions). The Action Plan was completely revised in 2019-2020
For news and information on the activities of the Strategy, please visit the EUSDR's dedicated website www.danube-region.eu and explore the interactive video.
The Danube region, one of the largest macro-region is facing several challenges:
Better coordination and cooperation between the countries and regions is needed to address these challenges.
The people living in the Danube Region will benefit from:
The EUSDR has identified 12 priority areas, which will focus on improving:
The Strategy does not come with extra EU finance but it is supported from the resources already available according to an integrated approach. Countries may also make use of the funding they receive through EU cohesion policy, other EU programmes and financial instruments, and various international financial institutions.
To know more about financial opportunities visit www.danube-region.eu/pages/funding-opportunities
To get in contact with the EUSDR team in DG REGIO, please email the secretary of the REGIO. DDG.D1 : REGIO-TRANSNATIONAL-AND-INTERREGIONAL-COOPERATION@ec.europa.eu
