Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Thursday held a virtual meeting of the representatives of 14 member states of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). Croatia took over the one-year presidency of the EUSDR in November 2019 and will hand it over to Slovakia end-October 2020.
“We had planned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the EUSDR this year, so the motto of our presidency was ‘EUSDR – 10 Years Later’. However, we were hit with an unprecedented global crisis and had to redraft most of our plans. We had to shift focus onto the security of our citizens,” Grlić Radman said.
The minister added that the priorities of Croatia’s EUSDR presidency were aligned with those of its EU presidency, focusing on regional sustainable development as a precondition for economic growth, sustainable social development and stronger territorial cohesion.
Grlić Radman described Croatia’s EUSDR presidency as very successful, underscoring achievements such as the introduction of the new Action Plan and the new Governance Architecture Paper. “I would also like to highlight the introduction of the embedding process – building the EUSDR goals and projects into partnership agreements and criteria for EU funding in the 2021-2027 financial perspective. In addition, I would like to mention the new meeting format of the Trio Presidency, held for the first time in February on Croatia’s initiative. I believe that this is the best platform for exchanging experiences and good practices,” the minister said.
“We agreed that in the period ahead, all participating countries have to make additional commitment to the strengthening of political will, the visibility of the EUSDR and its activities, a wider inclusion of stakeholders and work continuity,” Grlić Radman concluded, wishing Slovakia success in its upcoming presidency.