Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Wednesday attended the seventh parliamentary conference of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), hosted by the Croatian Parliament.
Addressing the conference, Grlić Radman underlined the significance of the Danube as the lifeline of the European continent, linking more than 100 million of people, influencing their economic, social and cultural development, and representing an important integration factor of the EU and Europe. “Croatia believes that the overall progress of the Danube Region requires additional strengthening of sustainable regional development and creating synergies between macro-regional strategies and the EU Cohesion Policy. In the context of the new 2021-2027 financial perspective, I would like to highlight the importance of cross-border project that focus on health aspects and stimulate sustainable growth, digitalization and innovation”, the minister said.
In addition, Grlić Radman said that the coronavirus pandemic had set unprecedented challenges before the EUSDR countries, but had also shown how creative they are and to what extent they can act quickly. He also stressed that VOCID-19 knew no borders and that solidarity and cooperation were needed at all levels of government among the Danube countries. The minister concluded that we have to stay focused, innovative, productive and efficient despite all the difficulties we are faced with.
Croatia took over the EUSDR presidency on November 1st 2019 under the motto “EUSDR – 10 Years Later”, and will hand it over in November this year to Slovakia.
Croatia’s presidency programme had three political goals: strengthening the role of regional development; establishing synergy between macro-regional strategies and the EU’s Cohesion Policy; and stimulating cooperation with the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries. Its main thematic goals were cooperation among scientific institutions and economic stakeholders, environmental protection and sustainable economic development, inland waterways, tourism and smart villages, civil protection, as well as strengthening the capacities of regional and local self-governments.
The EUSDR is an integrated cooperation framework for 14 countries in the Danube basin: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.