The Slovenian EUSDR Presidency organised the Joint meeting of the National Coordinators and Priority Area Coordinators of the EU Strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR) in Portorož, 18 -19 September 2023.

As the last meeting of the core governance of EUSDR under Slovenian Presidency, during the first day, the discussions focused on the upcoming 12th EUSDR Annual Forum and Ministerial meeting on 24 and 25 October in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia. It was also an opportunity to take stock of the current and upcoming activities and developments of the Strategy on the national level as well as on the priority area level, with a strong emphasis on the inclusion of youth in EUSDR. An important point in the agenda was the European Commission’s role in the EUSDR’s governance.

The second day turned to the consultation results of the Presidency’s Guidelines on Empowering Involvement and the following steps to implement these Guidelines. The Guidelines present 12 recommendations for better EUSDR visibility, funding possibilities, and stronger political and stakeholder involvement, and are an important contribution of the Slovenian EUSDR Presidency to the implementation of the Strategy. Supporting stakeholder involvement and the review of the EUSDR Governance Structure was another important point of the agenda, with the Danube Strategy Point presenting the current process and next steps.

The Danube Region Programme presented the stages after the first call of proposals closed as well as the Seed Money Facility instrument.

The meeting closed with the presentation of the priorities and a draft calendar of the Austrian Presidency of EUSDR that will start on 1 November 2023.