EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 9.12.2022 SWD(2022) 397 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies {COM(2022) 705 final}



Table of contents Introduction European Union macro-regional strategies Report on the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) Report on the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) Report on the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) Report on the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) Contribution of programmes to macro-regional strategies Annexes: Maps of the macro-regional strategies



Abbreviations AII AG BSR CBC CF DG DSP Adriatic and Ionian Initiative Action Group Baltic Sea region Cross-border cooperation Cohesion Fund Directorate General Danube Strategy Point EAFRD EB European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development Executive Board EMFAF ENI EAFRD European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund European Neighbourhood Instrument European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development ESF ETC European Social Fund European territorial cooperation EU EUSAIR EUSALP European Union European Union strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian region European Union strategy for the Alpine region EUSBSR EUSDR FP GB European Union strategy for the Baltic Sea region European Union strategy for the Danube region EUSAIR Facility Point Governing Board HELCOM IPA JRC Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission − Helsinki Commission Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance Joint Research Centre MA Managing authority MRS MSP Macro-regional strategy (-ies) Maritime Spatial Planning NC(s) NDICI National coordinator(s) Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument PA Policy/Priority area PAC(s) PC Policy/Priority area coordinators Pillar coordinators SMEs SG TEN-T TSG Small and medium-sized enterprises Steering Group Trans-European Transport Network Thematic Steering Group



Introduction This document comes in support of the fourth report to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on the implementation of the four EU macro-regional strategies (“MRS”): the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region (EUSBSR), the EU strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR), the EU strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian region (EUSAIR) and the EU strategy for the Alpine region (EUSALP). The report covers the period from mid-2020 to mid-2022. It aims at providing more detailed information concerning the state of implementation of each MRS and future expectations. The document is based inter alia on contributions from MRS national and thematic coordinators (MRS “key implementers”) and experts.

The differences between the individual chapters on each of the four macro-regional strategy is due to the different maturity of each strategy (they have been adopted at different time) hence the differing availability of data and deliverables. More information on the strategies can be found on their websites: http://www.balticsea-region-strategy.eu/ http://www.danube-region.eu/ http://www.adriatic-ionian.eu/ https://www.alpine-region.eu/

European Union macro-regional strategies The size and diversity of the European territory justifies differentiated approaches to its development through specific strategies for functional macro-regions. Increasing interdependence between countries, the growing role of sub-national authorities, and borderless, territorially-relevant challenges such as climate change, ecological degradation, natural and man-made hazards, all call for cooperative frameworks whereby groups of countries belonging to a wider geographical space can work together to address common challenges and opportunities. With a view to provide an effective and collective response to issues better handled by working together, a macro-regional approach arose in the Baltic Sea region with discussions launched in the European Parliament in 2006. This gained momentum overtime, to such an extent that there are now four European Union (EU) macro-regional strategies (MRS): ·EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region (EUSBSR; 2009) ·EU strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR; 2010) ·EU strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian region (EUSAIR; 2014) ·EU strategy for the Alpine region (EUSALP; 2016) Each MRS is accompanied by an action plan that should be regularly updated in light of new, emerging needs and changing contexts. The four MRS cover 19 EU Member States and 10 non-EU countries. Some EU Member States (such as Germany and Slovenia) are involved in three MRS, others (such as Croatia, Italy and Austria) are in two MRS. A MRS is a policy framework which allows EU and non-EU countries located in a defined geographical area to jointly address challenges and opportunities they have in common by setting a set of shared, long-term objectives to meet the needs of the macro-region. By doing this, they benefit from stronger cooperation, making their policies more efficient than if they had addressed the issues on their own. The MRS are an important innovation in territorial cooperation and cohesion. However, they differ in several aspects from cross-border and transnational territorial cooperation. One key feature of macro-regional cooperation, similarly to sea-basin strategies is its anchoring to integrated, strategic, longer-term and open-ended frameworks. The MRS are initiated and requested by the relevant EU Member States at the level of the European Council. The strategies cover a number of policy/thematic areas that have been jointly agreed by the participating countries and which reflect their strong political commitment towards joint achievement of common objectives. Following the European Council request, the MRS (Communication and accompanying action plan) are drafted by the European Commission in partnership with the participating countries. Therefore, their implementation relies heavily on the commitment and ambition of the participating countries that lead the process. The process is as important as the result: it must be inclusive and bottom up to ensure ownership.

Report on the implementation of the European Union strategy for the Baltic Sea region (EUSBSR) The EUSBSR is the forerunner of the four EU macro-regional strategies, approved by the European Council in 2009. It brings together eight EU Member States: Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany (Berlin; Brandenburg; Hamburg; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Schleswig-Holstein), Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. It stretches from Lapland to the south of Poland, being home to around 85 million inhabitants, or nearly 16% of the EU population. The Strategy also welcomes cooperation with the neighbouring countries (Iceland and Norway, and until 2022 Russia and Belarus). The EUSBSR has three main objectives, which represent the three key challenges of the Strategy: ·Saving the sea; ·Connecting the region; and ·Increasing prosperity. These objectives are complemented by sub-objectives, which are mostly related to more than one objective and being also interlinked and interdependent: ·Clear water in the sea ·Rich and healthy wildlife ·Clean and safe shipping ·Reliable energy markets ·Good transport conditions ·Connecting people in the region ·Better cooperation in fighting cross-border crime ·Improved global competitiveness of the Baltic Sea region ·Climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management The work within the EUSBSR is thematically divided into 14 policy areas, each of which develops between two and four actions. The EUSBSR is implemented through a revised action plan from February 2021. RESULTS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Main policy developments, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine

Over more than a decade, the experimental multi-level and cross-sectoral cooperation model of the EUSBSR has successfully engaged a wide range of stakeholders around the Baltic Sea to network and cooperate. It has empowered the stakeholders and increased their ownership by providing clear cooperation roles and responsibilities, effective decision-making and reinforced results-orientation. Its cooperation model and platform itself adds value by connecting people, creating networks, improving coordination and enhancing synergies. The EUSBSR stimulates policy learning at all levels by bringing together actors to solve common issues and challenges that cannot be tackled effectively by a single country or stakeholder alone. The strategy has provided stimulus for new projects and processes of macro-regional relevance all over the region with significant results in areas such as innovation, safety and pollution prevention of maritime transportation, preparedness for maritime emergencies and reduction of plastic and air pollution in the Baltic Sea. It is furthermore contributing to shaping and developing policy on climate change and environment, energy and navigation in the region. To this end, the strategy serves as a policy and coordination tool on the ground, delivering on the key European policy objectives such as the twin green and digital transistion, social change and youth and civil society inclusion, while taking into account the territorial speficities of the Baltic Sea region. The strategy is operationalised by an action plan that was revised during the reporting period and adopted by the Commission in February 2021. In particular, it considers emerging global challenges - i.e. the climate change, pandemic, demographic changes and migration – and the EU´s new strategic frameworks and budget, as well as the governance challenges of the strategy. The 2021 action plan streamlines policy areas and places them in a strategic context as well as assesses their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and provides links to embed the EUSBSR into EU policies and funding programmes. It furthermore increases the involvement of NGOs, civil society, youth organisations and the business community within the strategy, and generally empowers stakeholders, providing clearer roles and responsibilities. The revised action plan does not modify the main objectives of the strategy, nor the multi-level and cross-sectoral cooperation model. It reduces the number of actions from 73 to 44 and establishes a simplified structure with 14 thematic policy areas (instead of the previous 13 policy areas and four horizontal actions). Each policy area develops actions that contribute to achieving the main objectives. Activities under an action can be - but are not limited to - projects, processes, networks or platforms, which can be funded from different public and private sources. The policy areas are to ensure that horizontal aspects, notably addressing climate change and cooperation are integrated into the actions. During the reporting period, the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has been a key challenge both in terms of governance as well as operational, especially in certain policy areas. The 2020-2021 period was very difficult for the tourism sector around the Baltic Sea, and the international and domestic travel in the regions bordering Ukraine and/or Russia was further affected by the war in 2022. This also meant that the work within the policy area Tourism slowed down considerably during this period. As for the cooperation, all the EUSBSR live events and meetings were cancelled after mid-March 2020, and most of the planned events migrated online instead. Lack of live events and related social interaction and exchange brought about some challenges, particularly in the context of creating and facilitating new initiatives and partnerships. At the same time, for established partnerships, the online events were mostly both effective and efficient, often attracting wider participation than live events before. The pandemic also brought about new and innovative initiatives on recovery, including enhanced cooperation across the macro-regional strategies and strengthened joint initiatives. During the spring-summer of 2020, the four EU macro-regional strategies started planning for the Innovation Express 2021, a cross-MRS pilot on organising a joint call, based on the model of the EUSBSR project BSR Stars Innovation Express. It offers SMEs across the four strategies the possibility to widen their markets and develop new products and services with partners in Europe. The first call in the summer of 2021, presented a common approach for supporting SMEs at international matchmaking and joint R&D projects in such fields such as digital solutions in sustainable industry. As a response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, the National Coordinators’ group of the EUSBSR issued a statement on 10 March 2022, declaring the suspension of all cooperation with Russia and Belarus. The war in Ukraine affects the geopolitical situation of the Baltic Sea region, as well as the policy context in which the EUSBSR is carried out. The issues of security, safety and resilience have moved up on the political agenda in the region, which is clearly seen also within the EUSBSR, especially within policy area Secure (see below the section regarding social change, including the inflow of refugees and other war related issues). The impacts of the war are also detected within policy areas linked to the key objective of saving the sea as Russia has played an important role in the region when it comes to combatting pollution of the Baltic Sea. EUSBSR thematic priorities and their interrelation with the European Green Deal The policy objective “Save the Sea” has been the principal objective of the EUSBSR since the beginning, given the particular challenge of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea arising from the excessive agricultural nutrient loads of nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia emissions. Other forms of hazards include large quantities of underwater ammunitions and chemical munitions containing hazardous substances (dumped in the sea in the aftermath of the WWII). The Baltic Sea also continues to be one of the busiest seas in the world, prone to maritime accidents. Under the 2021 action plan, “Save the Sea” continues as the key objective, so that the majority of planned actions under the 14 policy areas are contributing towards this objective, in particular policy areas such as Nutri, Hazards, Bioeconomy, Safe, Ship, Transport, Energy, Spatial Planning and Secure. The revised action plan of 2021 further aligns the EUSBSR with the European Green Deal and the objective of making the EU climate neutral by 2050, by requiring that all policy areas must consider EU climate and environmental policy objectives. It also integrates into the strategy the principles of “do no significant harm”, climate-proofing, resilience building, prevention and preparedness and outlines how the different policy areas contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The action plan thus mainstreams the former horizontal actions on climate change as well as cooperation with neighbouring non-EU countries as essential elements into all 14 policy actions. At the same time, as the EUSBSR continues to evolve, the policy areas are becoming increasingly interlinked and interdependent. Energy security is moving up on the agenda in the light of the war in Ukraine and the RepowerEU Plan , adopted by the Commission on 18 May 2022 in response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The actions under different policy areas are therefore often cross-sectoral and their scope serves several objectives and sub-objectives, a feature which is strongly encouraged under the revised action plan. This is in particular true for the twin green and digital transition, where the relevant actions are strongly interlinked and regionally tied – in particular in the areas of shipping and maritime industries, blue economy and tourism (see also the next section on the digital transition). For instance, while the policy area Tourism previously focuses on promoting the Baltic Sea region as a tourist destination through improved cooperation and coordination, the renewed actions envisage more concrete and streamlined measures to address environmental and eco-systems protection, to promote sustainable production and consumption, to foster the digital transformation of tourism, and to ensure the preservation of the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities. Examples of projects and processes: The CASCADE project (policy area Secure) addressed climate change risk management in the Baltic Sea region by increasing connections between local administrations and national civil protection authorities and fostering closer contacts between practitioners and climate change and/or risk management experts, creating mutual learning processes. Its objectives also included improving the capacity to assess and treat current and future climate change related risks at the local level, and increasing practical risk management capabilities of local authorities. A key result was a comprehensive online toolbox for climate change prepardness: https://www.cascade-bsr.eu/toolbox . The BEST - Better Efficiency for Industrial Sewage Treatment project (policy area Nutri) tackled both eutrophication and risks of hazardous substances by improving industrial sewage treatment in the Baltic Sea region. It helped municipal waste water treatment plants to handle industrial waste water by enhancing collaboration and best practices between municipalities, industries and water works. The CSHIPP - Clean Shipping Project Platform project (policy area Ship) brought together projects and organisations focused on enhancing clean shipping in the Baltic Sea region to increase the impact by linking several projects working for clean shipping. As the involved projects address at the topic from different angles, CSHIPP synthesised their results in a concise and easily comprehensible format. Furthermore, to bring research results to policy makers and maritime industry, the project established an online portal ( https://www.shipemissions.eu/ ), an inventory of data on shipping emissions and the impact on the region. The project results were taken forward by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) Maritime Working Group towards developing HELCOM clean shipping-related recommendations. The COMPLETE project (policy area Ship) contributed to the reduction of the uncontrolled spread of invasive species in the Baltic Sea region by developing practical tools and proposals for prevention. The introduction of alien species has severe environmental and economic consequences, including loss of native species, habitat change and threat to the biodiversity and natural ecosystems. Shipping is one of the key contributors to the introdcution of alien spicies to the Baltic Sea. The project also elaborated a proposal for a Regional Baltic Biofouling Management Roadmap that serves as a recommendation for policy makers to implement sustainable biofouling management strategies in shipping and boating. With the COMPLETE PLUS project this roadmap as well as other tools and guidelines developed under COMPLETE were brought into practice by partners from six countries around the Baltic Sea. The goal of the Effect4buildings project (policy area Energy) is to increase the number of energy efficiency measures implemented in the existing public buildings. Its target group is public building managers, with knowlegde of technically possible actions and calculations proving that investments are profitable, but who fail to implement the measures due to financial barriers. The project will result in a toolbox of financial methods that can improve profitability, facilitate funding and reduce the risk of energy investment in public buildings. The ongoing eMSP NBSR project (policy area Spatial Planning) aims to support coherence of maritime policy and maritime spatial plans (MSP) in the North and Baltic Sea regions and address present and future challenges and to develop the capacity of responsible authorities. The result will be project mechanism that supports maritime spatial planners to jointly develop approaches for MSP in the implementation phase of MSP and takes on board the ambitions of the European Green Deal and other EU initiatives. The project DAIMON 2 (policy area Hazards), follow-up of the project DAIMON, brought together partners from Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden to create and apply a set of decision-aid-tools for maritime administrations, governments, academia and off-shore industry. In September 2021, the EU Parliament issued a Resolution on chemical residues in the Baltic Sea, which puts an imperative on the continuation of the DAIMON 2 project activities. EUSBSR thematic priorities and their interrelation with the digital transition Digital transformation is addressed throughout the revised EUSBSR action plan and several policy areas have increased focus and specific actions on digitalisation, such as Innovation (digital innovation & transformation), Safe (being a forerunner in digitalisation), Ship (digitalisation to reduce shipping emissions), Transport (facilitating innovative technologies & solutions) and Tourism (digital transformation, skills & technology).

As discussed above, the goals of the twin green and digital transition as well as innovation are also closely interlinked under the strategy, especially in the policy areas covering shipping, maritime industries and blue economy. Various projects have introduced cutting-edge digital solutions and processes to make shipping in the Baltic Sea safer, cleaner and more sustainable. Extended digital cooperation, i.e. a strong involvement of the private sector and collaboration between the public sector, industry and academia has turned out to be essential for the success, for example, for bringing in digital solutions to reduce the ecological footprint of transport vessels. In the field of innovation, the EUSBSR has advanced digitalisation by boosting the development of the networks and digital policies and helping the SMEs, industry associations and policy makers to speed up the region’s transition to a single digital market, as well as promoting ICT uptake in the business sector, developing digital public services, promoting transnational interoperability via innovative cross-border e-services and facilitating digital single market policy discussions at the regional level. Regions in the Baltic Sea have been actively developing their smart specialisation strategies in line with the EU Green Deal and with increasing focus on interregional Baltic Sea cooperation. Various projects have facilitated the development of long-term strategic innovation cooperation and partnerships that can eventually lead to joint investments, as well as provided insights and tools for regions to develop the smart specialisation strategies, with a strong focus on inclusive sustainability, green and digital transition. The BSR Stars Innovation Express project provided the model for the Innovation Express 2021 - a cross-MRS call for proposals implemented across all the four macro-regions - as a response to the economic challenges brought about by the pandemic. Its first call in 2021 represented a common approach for supporting SMEs at international matchmaking and joint R&D projects in the fields of “Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Applications” and “Digital solutions in sustainable industry”. Examples of projects and processes: BSR Digi co-lab and its sub-projects DIGINNO and DINNOCAP and (policy area Innovation) were umbrella-type initiatives to enhance digital cooperation between industry associations, government agencies, and knowledge institutions in the Baltic Sea region, focusing on SME’s digital innovation capacity to move towards the digital market. The main outputs are: company digitalisation toolkit for SMEs, four show-case models of G2B cross-border e-services (incl. feasibility analyses and proofs of concept), a White Paper with policy recommendations as well as an informal but active cross-sectoral industry digitalisation community of the Baltic Sea region. The project ECOPRODIGY (policy area Ship) increases eco-efficency in the maritme sector by creating and piloting digital solutions in close cooperation between industry end-users and research organisations. It addresses both environmental and economic challenges by promoting eco-efficiency at all stages of the vessel lifecycle from design and build, to the use, maintenance, storage as well as the conversion processes. The project also improves the capacity of the maritime industry actors to enhance eco-efficiency in their operations by providing training and by designing a digitalisation road map for increasing eco-efficiency. ECOPRODIGI also strengthens the public support for digitalisation by providing policy workshops and recommendations addressing digitalisation gaps in the industry. The STM BALT SAFE (policy area Safe) increases the safety of navigation by introducing common Sea Traffic Management (STM) which enables maritime services to digitally exchange voyage plans of tanker traffic in the Baltic Sea, which experiences one of densest sea traffic in the world. With many tanker and passengers crossing routes as well as narrow passages, the risk of accidents is high. The STM services enable the exchange of voyage plans therbey improving an overall situational awarness between ships, and between ships and shore. The shore centres develop and test new digital services, for example automated reporting, which additionally improve speed and accuracy of ship-shore information exchange. The R-Mode Baltic (policy area Safe) project launched a technical system for a safer ship navigation, and placed the Baltic Sea as a first operational navigation test area for maritime terrestrial navigation on the global map. As Baltic Sea is known for frequent shipping accidents like groundings, collisions and other types of accidents, the challenge was to prevent and minimise the accidents´ frequency. The project brought together research institutions, national maritime service providers and industry partners. The partners further developed the R-Mode technology and verified R-Mode as a suitable approach for coastal navigation. Baltic DigiTour is a seed money project (policy area Tourism) that is supporting a five-member consortium from three Baltis Sea countries by conductinh background investigations and thereby preparing for a fully-fledged main project providing an online distributed knowledge community on digitalisation in the Baltic tourims attrations (by embracing the concept of cMOOCs: connectivist Massive Open Online Courses). EUSBSR thematic priorities and social change, including the inflow of refugees and other consequences of the war in Ukraine The EUSBSR has been addressing the issues of social change for several years especially in the area of education and labour market. Since 2014, the membership-based School to Work (S2W) project has been improving its members’ ability to smoothen the transition for youth from school to work. S2W aims to prevent early school leaving and to develop support for vulnerable groups of students and youth, early school leavers and recently arrived refugees. Its members include local and regional authorities, state agencies, schools, and civil society organisations all around the Baltic Sea. The refugee inflow is having a strong impact on labour markets and education systems in the region, especially in Poland and the Baltic countries. In 2022, from 24 February up to 29 April, a total of 3.03 million people entered Poland from Ukraine. As of 20 April, around 976.000 foreigners were registered for “temporary protection” in Poland. The increasing number of refugees is creating new challenges and putting a further strain on health and social systems, which were already severely affected by the pandemic. There are also specific new challenges regarding education in terms of being able to provide an inclusive education process, Ukrainian distance learning programmes, examinations and education documents and recognition of previously acquired education (outside the EU). The 2021 action plan provides further possibilities to take actions on the social change-related issues - such as “Easing the way for migrants” – especially under the following policy areas: -Education: i) Preventing early school leaving and improving transition from school to work: ii) International excellence and wider participation in science and research: iii) A labour market for all, using resources of longer lives; and iv) Recognising potential - Easing the way for migrants. -Health: i) Promoting active and healthy ageing to address the challenges of demographic change: ii) Promoting health in all policies approach with focus on the impact of environmental factors, and especially climate change on human health, iii) Increasing stakeholder and institutional capacity to tackle regional health challenges. -Innovation: i) Challenge-driven innovation: ii) Digital innovation and transformation: and iii) Co-creative innovation. -Spatial Planning: Strengthening territorial cohesion through land based spatial planning, 2: Ensuring coherent maritime spatial plans throughout the Baltic Sea. The impacts of the war have been also clearly felt in policy area Secure, since most of the members of its Steering Group are civil protection agencies directly involved in providing support to Ukraine. In particular, the Steering Group members have shared their experience in gathering and distributing help to Ukraine and responded within the policy area Secure network to emerging needs for equipment such as fire trucks. Due to a high interest in addressing the refugee inflow, study visits are planned aimed at learning from the Polish experience, knowledge exchange and inventorying future needs of all actors involved. During recent years, the EUSBSR framework has already been strengthening the role of civil society and civil society organisations, and the national actors in many policy areas have disseminated and showcased their models to other participating countries. The war has further underlined the key role that civil society organisations can play within the transnational Baltic Sea cooperation, by demonstrating that they can act with speed and creativity in relation to the war. Examples of projects and processes: The ChYResilience project aims to empower children and youth to play an active role as contributors to societal resilience and to remove barriers to their active involvement in prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. To this end, project identifies initiatives and good practices that address or promote these factors and help prepare children and youth to play an active role in their safety and security. The primary project activity is a pre-study on preparing children and youth for prevention and effective action in the event of a crisis. The BSLF-SWL - Baltic Sea Labour Forum for Sustainable Working Life project (policy area Education) aims to improve working life conditions and lifelong learning provisions, systems and policies for an elderly labour force in order to promote active ageing and employability. The project addresses three issues crucial for the socio-economic development of the countries in the Baltic Sea region: the demographic challenge, active ageing and lifelong learning. The BSLF-SEA - Support for longer working life project (policy area Education) promotes the retention of the ability to work and employment of the elderly through, for instance, measures for raising awareness for promotion of a longer and better working life, targeted support measures, such as career consulting, mentoring, workplace adjustments and health promoting measures. Other activities include e.g. assessment of working environment and human resources potential and collective discussions on aging management issues. The EntreFox project (policy area Education) supports the careers and well-being of entrepreneurs and those interested in entrepreneurship over the age of 55, by providing them with digitisation, business expertise and new networks in order to improve their companies’ competitiveness. The BaltCityPrevention project (policy area Health) brought together 14 SMEs specialised in IT and public health authorities from seven countries to strengthen their collaborationst and test a more participatory and user-oriented approach to develop and implement prevention and health promotion interventions. The proejct developed a new approach helping public health authorities in prevention intervention planning by better tailoring the interventions to the needs of specific user groups applying participatory and co-creation methods in the planning procedure. ScanBalt Health Region (SBHR) – Cross-Sectoral and Transnational Projects for Innovation in Health and in Life Sciences project (policy area Innovation) aims to develop the Baltic Sea region into a globally leading and prosperous “Health Region” using the ScanBalt BioRegion as a model. It aims are related to: a) regional competences in these fields; b) smart specialisation strategies; c) promoting a trans-regionalcollaboration platform: d) collaboration and interaction within different health-related areas; and e) enhancing branding and visibility to attract and retain human, financial and industrial resources. Governance and Administrative involvement and capacity General The governance structure of the EUSBSR consists of the following functions and levels: ·the national coordinators;

·the presidency; ·the Trio presidency (the incumbent, past and future presidencies); ·the policy area coordinators; ·the steering groups (of each policy area) and their working groups. Political level Each year, the EUSBSR presidency rotates between the eight involved countries for a 12-month period between July and June (the rotation schedule is agreed by the National Coordinators’ group). In the reporting period, the Strategy was chaired by Germany in 2020-2021, Lithuania 2021-2022 and Sweden took over the chair in July 2022. The EUSBSR presidency is assisted by the Trio presidency that includes the incumbent, past and future presidencies. In order to facilitate involvement at the political level, all participating countries have set-up mechanisms at national level to coordinate EUSBSR issues. Cross-sectoral national platforms have been established to support continuous dialogue amongst relevant national/regional/local stakeholders and about on-going initiatives. They aim to coordinate EUSBSR issues and involve a wider range of actors, including stakeholders in charge of cohesion policy programmes. A common challenge among the macro-regional strategies is the fluctuation of participants in these platforms and the variable involvement of actors from different levels (sub-national, regional and local). Since 2010, an annual forum has been organised to communicate the EUSBSR’s work and results, stimulate policy discussion, and provide stakeholders with a networking opportunity. The annual fora take place in one of the eight involved countries, aiming to attract key policy makers, stakeholders and local, regional, national and EU level actors (who will host the forum is agreed by the National Coordinators’ group). Due to the pandemic and the lockdown that followed, the 11th EUSBSR Annual Forum in 2020 was organised virtually from Turku, Finland, focusing on the themes of sustainability and innovation. The 12th Annual Forum - with the motto Revitalize-Recover-Recharge - was organised in hybrid format in the autumn of 2021, during the Lithuanian presidency. In addition, physical events took place in the Lithuanian cities of Kaunas and Klaipėda. The annual forum of 2021 was opened by Ursula von der Leyen (the President of the European Commission) and four Prime Ministers (of Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden). The Secretary-General of the OECD also participated showing strong political support to the strategy. The main message from the high-level speakers was that the EUSBSR’s goals go hand-in-hand with the EU priorities and the EUSBR has the potential to influence the agenda setting to increase the resilience of the EU, especially the economic and societal one, while leaving no person behind. Implementation level The 2021 action plan re-defines the EUSBSR governance rules by enhancing the role of the steering groups of the policy areas and setting up a new organisational framework for the policy area coordinators (PACs). It also establishes a new Baltic Sea Strategy Point (BSP) that is meant to provide administrative and technical support for the strategy’s management, development and communication. The BSP will be guided by and accountable to the National Coordinators’ group that decides on its detailed tasks. The day-to-day work of the BSP is to be conducted in close contact with the presidency. The BSP is to be up and running in the course of 2022. The national coordinators (NCs) – nominated by each participating country - are the focal point at national level and the decision-making body for the EUSBSR. Together, the NCs form the National Coordinators group’ (NCG) which meets regularly. Their primary task is to oversee implementation of the strategy in their countries and ensure that the EUSBSR is firmly anchored in the national political environment. This includes engaging with all 14 policy areas (including participation in steering group meetings) and liaising with national line ministries and other relevant organisations to encourage them to consider and implement EUSBSR actions in their policy field. In most of the EUSBSR countries the strategy is coordinated by a ministry (such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that is different from the ministry in charge of the bulk of EU funding programmes. However, there are also cases where both the strategy and the EU funding are under the responsibility of the same ministry. The countries and organisations participating in the EUSBSR are responsible for coordinating the policy areas. Each policy area is managed by at least one policy area coordinator (PAC), working with their steering group (SG) members. Having the overview of a particular policy area, the PACs’ main role is to identify key processes that will achieve the EUSBSR goals through different actions and identify how to best implement solutions. The position of individual PACs remains rather difficult, as they often possess neither the funds nor the political and administrative influence to implement a broad set of targets. The steering groups are the central executive and decision-making bodies at policy area level for objectives and actions, formats, key areas of cooperation, and future developments. The SGs meet usually twice a year, a requirement met by most priority areas. However, steering group members’ participation in the meetings varies considerably between the policy areas. Civil society Since the beginning, civil society organisations, such as NGOs, and private sector organisations have played an important role in the EUSBSR. This is in particular the case in policy areas such as Education, Culture, Health and Tourism. Furthermore, higher education and research institutions continue to make up the largest category of project partners in Interreg-funded activities of the EUSBSR. The 2021 action plan included and increased the structured involvement of NGOs, civil society, youth organisations and the business community in the work of the strategy. The policy area Education has a network of 1850 stakeholders with an increasing number of NGOs, who actively take part in the projects and stakeholder events. Examples of the projects with NGOs include School to Work - S2W and Baltic Sea Labour Forum - BSLF (see above). Education is one of the policy areas with the most potential to further engage with the civil society organisations, as NGOs play a key role in developing solutions in the area, such as reaching out to and building trust with vulnerable groups such as migrants and young unemployed. In policy area Health, the EUSBSR actions allow for a wide participation of civil society, the representatives of which are regularly taking part in events and projects. Currently, the strongest representation of civil society actors is seen in active and healthy ageing, AgeFLAG, through which the strategy has engaged with a variety of actors, such as the AGE Platform Europe. Youth

Youth involvement is well recognised by the EUSBSR and the 2021 action plan aims to involve more young people in the work of the strategy and policymaking. Youth is specifically especially addressed under the policy areas Bioeconomy, Secure, Education and Culture. The youth involvement is coordinated through different formats, in particular the Baltic Sea Youth Forum (BSYP) that aims to empower young people in the region and to make their voices heard at all levels. Several policy areas such as Culture, Education and Health is working together with the BSYP and are engaging the BSYP into their initiatives whenever possible. Policy area Culture has an active role in facilitating the Youth Camps and other youth events. In 2020, the EUSBSR Youth Declaration was prepared by the participants of the Baltic Sea Youth Camps 2020 with the aim to institutionalise the BSYP and coordinate the youth involvement in the EUSBSR policy areas. The Declaration contains statements and expectations by the youth in the areas of environment, transport and social issues. These priorities do not only relate to the EUSBSR but are also in line with the NextGenerationEU and the European Green Deal. An example of youth participation in the strategy is the South Baltic Bridge that connects young people in Denmark, Germany and Poland aiming to develop skills in the green and blue sector. Another example is the ChYResilience project (see above) that deals with the role of children and young people in building resilient societies, aiming to model the possible involvement of both groups at each stage in response to hazards. The EUSBSR Annual Forum of 2021 paid special attention to the youth-related topics - including the full-day closing event dedicated to the youth - and enhanced involvement of the youth, so that the panellists and participants included several representatives of youth organisations. One of the organisers of the Forum was Klaipėda, European Youth Capital of 2021. Access to funding and embedding: General overview The transnational cooperation programme for the Baltic Sea region (Interreg BSR funded by the ERDF) is closely linked to the EUSBSR thematically, geographically, and in terms of support for the governance (including the policy areas). It also continues to be the most utilised source of funding for projects under the strategy. Over the years, integration and alignment between the EUSBSR and the Interreg BSR has greatly helped in developing and co-financing the EUSBSR projects. Other important funding sources include the cross-border cooperation programmes also funded by the ERDF, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) - such as the Interreg South Baltic and Interreg Sweden-Norway programmes) - as well as other EU funded instruments such as Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), Horizon 2020 and Life, EU's funding instrument for the environment and climate action (see also below on funds directly managed by the Commission). The “mainstream”, i.e. regional and national cohesion policy programmes as well as the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) in the region are also sources of funding, although there is still potential room for increasing the funding for the EUSBSR from these programmes (as described below). Cohesion policy programmes 2021-2027 As indicated above, the Interreg programmes alone cannot satisfy all the funding needs to implement the EUSBSR actions. That is why it is necessary to further embed the strategy in other EU funding programmes. The 2021 action plan sees that the managing authorities (MAs) of EU funding programmes play an important role by ensuring the embedding of the actions into their respective programmes. Close cooperation with the managing authorities and their networks is therefore essential. To this end, the national coordinators and members of steering groups need to cooperate with MAs at the national level, NCs at the strategic level and steering groups members at the operational level. At the operational level, PACs have the main responsibility for such cooperation in their respective policy areas. To this end, in the EUSBSR, MA Networks were already set up for ESF, ERDF, EAFRD and EMFAF. In order to strengthen the alignment of the cohesion policy programmes and the EUSBSR in the national planning for the 2021-2027 period, working groups responsible for the planning and coordination between ministries, social partners and regional authorities also included officials dealing with EUSBSR activities (such as NCs or PA steering group members). The national authorities report that as the EUSBSR responds to challenges common for the countries in the region, their programmes for the 2021-2027 period do generally also take the strategy well in to account and align with its objectives. The specific objectives of these new programmes have often direct links to the EUSBSR policy areas. However, not all the policy areas of the strategy are covered as many of the cohesion policy programmes are focused on policy goals related to innovation, skills and SMEs. Furthermore, the national regulations for the post-2020 implementation usually provide possibilities to organise joint international calls for proposals contributing to the implementation of the EUSBSR. Often, it is also possible to allocate additional funding for new project activities implemented together with international partners in accordance with the objectives of the EUSBSR. This includes using parts of the EU structural funds for projects outside the programme area. Funds directly managed by the Commission As mentioned above, EUSBSR projects are also co-financed by other EU funding instruments directly managed by the European Commission, such as CEF, Erasmus, LIFE and Horizon 2020/Europe. For example, in policy areas of Ship and Safe, most projects have been funded by the directly managed funds such as CEF and Horizon 2020. In the policy area Safe, examples of projects funded by Horizon 20202 are: NEEDS, CASCADE and FIRE-IN. Also in the policy area Transport, projects have received funding from the CEF and Horizon 2020 (e.g. EU ITS Platform, Shift2Rail, AiRMOUR and VitalNodes). CEF has also funded projects under policy area Energy. In the area of Bioeconomy, projects have been funded by LIFE, in particular its Nature and Biodiversity sub-programmes (e.g. Life Taiga I and II, Life CONNECTS and Life IP Rich Waters). The policy area Education finds funding in Erasmus+ strategic partnerships. In the policy area Innovation, Erasmus+ has funded for instance the KAforHR project that aims supporting SMEs. Policy area Spatial Planning has an on-going project eMSP NBSR (see above) approved by CINEA (the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) under the call EMFF-MSP-2020. In order to promote directly managed funding possibilities within the EUSBSR, some national authorities have strengthened the relations between the NCG members and the respective specialists in the ministerial departments responsible for facilitating engagement with EU financing instruments. More knowledge of the EU funding possibilities is needed especially at the local and regional levels, in particular in relation to the application process and possibilities for international and interregional cooperation. This would facilitate that the EUSBSR evolve as a strategic framework for projects and funding.

Monitoring and evaluation An overall macro-regional territorial monitoring tool was developed by the ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) programme to observe development trends and patterns at the level of the four macro-regional strategies (MRS). The ESPON tool focuses on identifying development opportunities and territorial challenges, and these are communicated to the four MRS to improve or re-focus the objectives and policies, bringing together statistical information and policy objectives. The 2021 action plan sets out the monitoring and evaluation framework for the EUSBSR, and the NCG endorses the overall monitoring and evaluation framework and ensures that it is published on the EUSBSR website. The PACs monitor their policy areas and actions and prepare annual reports on the achievements for their respective steering groups. The SGs evaluate and endorse these annual reports and submit these to the NCG for information. The annual reports are reviewed by NCG and shared with the Commission. At the national level, monitoring is carried out by the National Coordinators through coordination structures set up between the relevant ministries. The MAs report on their programmes’ contributions to the implementation of the strategy. Communication The 2021 action plan consolidates the functions of the Interreg-funded project Let’s Communicate! and the former horizontal action Capacity. It envisages that communication, information and publicity for the EUSBSR and targeted capacity building for stakeholders are to be ensured by the NCG, supported by the Baltic Sea Strategy Point (BSP). During the reporting period (i.e. prior to setting up the BSP), Let's communicate! Managed the EUSBSR website , Twitter , Flickr and Youtube accounts. The project has gathered information about EUSBSR developments for the communication channels, promoted the use of the EUSBSR visual identity and provided stakeholders with communication support and tools. Let's communicate! also organised outreach to new stakeholders groups. Furthermore, the project has been supporting the policy areas in addressing non-EU cooperation and in aligning the work, in particular EU with the climate policy objectives. Communication activities are also carried out at the level of the policy areas, who provide information on their activities and manage their policy area specific websites through the EUSBSR online platform. The policy areas are also active on social media and occasionally produce their own information brochures. At national level, the NCs have a key role to play in communicating the strategy through various means. Several national administrations run dedicated website for the EUSBSR providing information on the EUSBSR activities. The NCs and other stakeholders also give e.g. interviews to national magazines and contribute with columns and articles on the strategy. In the reporting period, a major communication campaign was conducted by all the key actors in order to prepare (and involve the relevant stakeholders), launch and ensure the visibility for the revised action plan. The annual forum continues to be the main event for the EUSBSR and a key mean to raise awareness about the strategy. In 2021, the 12th Annual Forum (with the motto of Revitalize-Recover-Recharge) was organised during the Lithuanian presidency between 27 September and 1 October in a hybrid format. Its agenda covered topics ranging from climate change, combatting pollution and digitalisation to culture and youth. The Forum was attended in total of ca. 1700 participants from governments, international organisations, NGOs, universities, local and regional administrations, business and media. As mentioned previously, it was opened by the President of the European Commission, five Prime Ministers and the Secretary-General of OECD. The organisers used a dedicated website as well as social media to communicate about the Forum. 42 posts were published through the EUSBSR Facebook site (that had 2 087 followers at the time of the Forum) and 45 posts through the EUSBSR Twitter account @EUSBSR (that had 3 462 followers) before, during and after the event. The total coverage of all Facebook posts was 14 834 while the total impression of all Twitter posts were 21 579. According to the Flash Eurobarometer 497 of October 2021, the awareness of the EUSBSR varied between the eight surveyed countries. From 64% in Finland, 45% in Estonia, 44% in Sweden, 41% in both Lithuania and Latvia and to 39% in Poland. In Denmark and Germany (only some federal states are involved in the EUSBSR) awareness was at 17%. THE WAY FORWARD The EUSBSR institutionalises and operationalises networks of cooperation among the Baltic Sea stakeholders on many levels not addressed otherwise. The strategy is shifting from being a regional cooperation platform to a hub for identifying common challenges and common solutions for the region, a trend which has been further accelerated by the pandemic. The 2021 action plan was an important step forward both governance and policy-wise, by refocusing the strategy to tackle common global challenges in the Baltic Sea region context. Its full implementation is central to the success and achievement of the objectives in the years to come. The European Green Deal, the digital transition, social change including the inflow of refugees and other consequences of the war in Ukraine Within the EUSBSR, the EU’s green and digital priorities have traditionally been high in the agenda both politically and in terms of concrete actions. The 2021 action plan has further aligned the strategy with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the digital transition. In general, the stakeholders perceive that while the pandemic has brought challenges in many fronts, it has also presented an opportunity to rethink the actions further promoting the green and low carbon transition needed to build a more robust, sustainable, resilient and green economy in the Baltic Sea region. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the strategy’s principle objective to “Save the Baltic Sea” has become much more difficult to achieve after the cooperation with Russia and Belarus was suspended following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The future cooperation with Russia remains unclear. It is evident that the efforts to integrate refugees fleeing Ukraine need to be reinforced in the region. The revised action plan provides several possibilities to support the integration of refugees under policy areas such as Health and Education, and especially through the action “Recognising potential - Easing the way for migrants”. Similarly, the war in Ukraine highlights the issue of energy security and the need for the EUSBSR to help delivering on the REPowerEU Plan. Exchange of information and experience between EUSBSR stakeholders can further provide support in tackling these new common challenges. EUSBSR governance (including monitoring, evaluation and communication)

Overall, the governance of the EUSBSR works well and has shown its resilience during the time of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The revised action plan of 2021 sees the establishment of a new Baltic Sea Strategy Point (BSP) as a function providing administrative and technical support for EUSBSR management, development and communication. It will also have an important monitoring and evaluation role. Establishing the BSP is a very welcome development, bringing the EUSBSR at level of the other macro-regional strategies in the terms of governance support as well as providing institutional memory. Therefore, finalising the setting up of the BSP and making it operational is a high priority for the EUSBSR. It should be noted, however, that some of the national authorities find that the EUSBSR (or MRS in general) should be more flexible, in particular during times of crisis. This would mean providing the EUSBSR policy areas with more flexibility and independence, something which is already envisaged by the 2021 action plan. The structured involvement of and support for civil society, civil society organisations and the youth has been strengthened by the revised action plan, the operationalisation of which needs to be closely monitored. Although the high-level attendance at the Annual Forum in 2021 did raise the political profile and visibility of the strategy, the stakeholders generally find that the EUSBSR is still not getting the political attention and support it deserves. In some cases, this might be also reflected in the level of resources allocated to the EUSBSR-related work in the responsible national ministries. In general, the resources dedicated to the strategy at regional and local level are still considered rather limited, including the staff resources needed to follow and mobilise the available financing. Embedding, implementation and access to funds directly managed by the Commission The embedding process within the EUSBSR - i.e. aligning the new cohesion policy programmes with the EUSDR and creating adequate mechanism to facilitate contribution - is ongoing and needs to be finalised as soon as possible by the MA and the MA network together with the NCG. A more systemic approach to the embedding is expected once the new Baltic Sea Strategy Point becomes fully operational. Learning from the experience of other macro-regional on embedding could also help. Furthermore, as is the case of all MRS, the challenge for the years to come is to move from the programming to implementation and to set up proper monitoring tools to capture the progress. Some national authorities feel that because the strategy itself does not have funds for actions and projects, this leads to difficulties in embedding the strategy efficiently at the national level. In some policy areas, some national authorities also see that issues arise when an identified cross-sectorial and multi-modal project cannot be sufficiently funded by an Interreg programme, because it does not correspond with a priority of the said programme. Moreover, directly managed funds could do more to promote not only collaboration between countries, but also stress the macro-regional and cross-MRS aspects of partnerships. Coordination and cooperation between macro-regional strategies Cooperation and intensified exchanges between the EUSBSR and the other three MRSs are much welcomed by the stakeholders. Sharing good practices as well as participating in the other MRS’ Annual Fora are considered very supportive. For example, the EUSBSR has benefitted from the EUSDR’s experiences on the inclusion of youth in the strategy and on setting up a technical support function (i.e. BSP). The stakeholders do not see that the cooperation between the MRS needs to be further institutionalised as the existing regular Trio presidencies’ meetings already provide for efficient exchange. It should be noted that the pandemic to some extent has affected the cooperation between the MRS negatively, due to the travel restrictions and because the operational focus was largely on crisis management. EUSBSR role in EU enlargement and neighbourhood policy Since launching of the strategy in 2009, one of the EUSBSR’s goal has been strengthening regional collaboration and integration with the third EU neighbouring countries, i.e. Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Russia. Following Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, all cooperation with Russia and Belarus under the EUSBSR was suspended on 10 March 2022. The implications of this move, for the prime objective of the Strategy, “Save the Sea”, will need to be carefully assessed. At the same time, the strategy continues to welcome cooperation with Iceland and Norway, which is also important in the context of the EU’s Arctic and Northern Dimension collaboration. Finally, there might also be possibilities in the future for closer cooperation with Ukraine, which already participates in the EU strategy for the Danube region.



Report on the implementation of the European Union strategy for the Danube region (EUSDR) Dating from 2010, the EUSDR was the second macro-regional strategy (MRS) to be launched following the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region (EUSBSR). Over the years, the Strategy has provided stimulus to start new projects and processes of macro-regional relevance all over the region. The access to know-how and best practices within the macro-region has been of great benefit to many actors at various levels who were looking for different approaches and solutions when designing and implementing policy. The EUSDR covers 14 countries that differ considerably in terms of their development level and position in relation to the EU: it includes nine EU Member States, four EU accession countries and one potential EU accession country. EUSDR is built around four pillars: ·“Connecting the region” focuses on improving inland navigation along the Danube and promoting culture and tourism. ·“Protecting the environment” seeks to restore and maintain water quality, among other issues.

·“Building prosperity” aims, among other things, to develop the knowledge society. ·“Strengthening the region” focuses on improving decision-making capacity and structures in the public and private sector. The four pillars are divided into 12 priority areas. RESULTS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Main policy developments, including the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic The EUSDR has proven its usefulness in directing the attention of politicians, administrations, various institutions and civil society organisations towards the Danube region. A key added value of the strategy is that it brings together new actors across sectors, countries and levels. It stimulates policy learning at all levels by bringing together actors to solve common challenges that cannot be tackled effectively by one single country alone, be it plastic pollution in water bodies, inland navigation, disaster management or the protection of endangered species. The EUSDR is a tool to deliver and bring a territorial dimension to key European political initiatives such as the green and digital transition, issues related to social transition, the inclusion of civil society and youth as well as responding to new challenges such as the pandemic and Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. The strategy offers a cooperation platform for coordinating actions and funds based on a cross-sectoral and multi-level governance approach. Finally, the strategy provides a good introduction and training on how the European Union works for countries that are in the process of accessing or aspire to join the EU. Ukraine took over the presidency of the EUSDR at the Annual Forum in October 2021 for a period of 12 months. This was the first time ever that a non-EU, non-accession country (at the time) took over the presidency of an MRS. However, on 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. The impact of the war had an immediate effect on the implementation and governance of EUSDR, as Ukraine temporarily was unable to perform the duties of the presidency. On the 23 March 2022 the EUSDR National Coordinators formally endorsed a temporary EUSDR presidency by the remaining members of the EUSDR Trio presidency, Slovakia and Slovenia, supported by the Danube Strategy Point. The Temporary EUSDR presidency undertook the EUSDR presidency’s duties and tasks until 19 May 2022 when the Ukrainian National Coordination announced that they were ready to once again take up the presidency. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has hampered the implementation of several strategic projects, for example in the field of water management. It has become difficult to implement and further develop already started activities, while the planning of new projects and further inclusion of Ukrainian stakeholders is on hold. Many actors normally engaged in the activities of the priority areas of the EUSDR now find themselves heavily involved with tasks related to the war e.g. collecting and transporting donations or supporting refugees. Apart from affecting the governance of the EUSDR, Russia’s war against Ukraine has implications for the policy context of the strategy. Energy security has thus moved to top of the political agenda in a region where Russian supply more than 60% of the gas. Also, transporting goods into and out of Ukraine by waterway has become difficult as many shipping companies no longer provide transport to Ukrainian harbours due to the security situation. As a result, the traffic on the Danube is largely diverted to ports in Romania, which in turn experience congestion. During the reporting period the recovery from the pandemic has been a key challenge. Apart from triggering new ways of working, the pandemic caused the postponement or cancellation of physical meetings (e.g. ministerial meetings, steering group meetings). The pandemic also boosted new initiatives such as innovation clusters targeting SMEs that needed to adjust to a new market situation post-COVID. EUSDR thematic priorities and their interrelation with the European Green Deal Overall, the potential contribution of the EUSDR to the objectives of the European Green Deal is high. The 2020 action plan aligns the EUSDR with the European Green Deal. The Green Deal and its relevant corollary measures are covered by several priority areas. This includes actions to mitigate climate change, improve climate adaptation and increase resilience. Examples include securing water supply for people and agriculture, coping with more frequent natural hazards and preserving and restoring biodiversity. Activities falling within the framework of the EUSDR include support to sustainable inland waterway transport, to integration of energy markets of non-EU countries and help in the implementation of the EU energy acquis. It also includes sharing experiences and best practices in climate change adaptation and initiatives on the development of green skills. In 2020, the Croatian presidency made environmental protection and sustainable economic development a priority. This was followed up by the Slovak presidency focusing on climate change and the protection of biodiversity, issues with a broad cross-sectoral coverage. The EUSDR brings added value by facilitating coordination in decision-making and action, cross-sectoral approaches and stakeholder involvement. The strategy also plays an important role to promote the European Green Deal priorities and objectives with the EU accession countries of the region. Examples of projects and processes: With its activities, the GRENDEL project (Priority area 1A – inland navigation) aimed to achievea higheracceptance and use of inland waterway transport (IWT) as a more sustainable transport mode contributing to economic growth and a more sustainable transport system in the Danube region. It addressed the Danube vessel fleet operators on aspects such as use of low carbon and alternative fuels, reduction of air pollutant emissions (CO2, NOx, PM) and reduction of energy consumption. The SABRINA project (Priority area 1B – rail, road, air) focuses on a very sustainable mode of transport – biking – by increasing the safety for cyclists, one of the most vulnerable road users. The objective is to improve road bicycle infrastructure safety in the region by raising the capacities of all relevant national, regional, and local stakeholders to build and improve bicycle infrastructure in a safe and sustainable way. The most important achievement of Priority area 2 (energy) during the reported period was a comparative assessment of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) of the Danube region countries. It resulted in four policy briefs and a policy recommendation to support the use of renewable energy sources in the region to help reaching the national emission reduction targets. The work is expected to result in the preparation of several projects in areas such as alternative fuels e.g. hydrogen which could help to deliver the REPowerEU Plan. The Disaster Management Working Group (DM-WG) established within Priority area 5 (environmental risks) is based on a concept developed with the Budapest Fire Fighter Association acting as lead partner. Since its establishment, 19 governmental and non-governmental civil protection organisations from nine countries joined the EUSDR DM WG. Their collaboration resulted in numerous projects, with differentiated funding, supporting the regional preparedness and response activities (approximately 1,5 M EUR). The Danube Sturgeon Task Force (DSTF), set up within the framework of Priority area 6 (biodiversity), aims to coordinate and foster the conservation of highly endangered native sturgeon species in the Danube River Basin and the Black Sea by promoting the implementation of the Program STURGEON 2020. The DSTF functions as a platform for projects related to the protection of the sturgeon funded from cohesion policy programmes as well as LIFE. New activities within the DSTF include the establishment of a Danube-wide sturgeon monitoring system. LIFE MICACC (Municipalities as integrators and coordinators in adaptation to climate change) following from Priority area 5 (environmental risks) explores possible solutions to face climate change issues of mountanous and highland villages with the design of an integrated natural water retention system of both the lower and upper watersheds. The objective is to retain water and sediment (coming with the flooding events) in the upper river basin before reaching the built environment. EUSDR thematic priorities and their interrelation with the digital transition Digitalisation is one of the horizontal objectives of the 2020 EUSDR action plan which was further boosted as an effect of the pandemic. Innovation and digital transformation were also among the thematic priorities under the Slovak presidency of the EUSDR in 2021. Thus, the ministerial meeting held during the 2021 Annual Forum included the ministers responsible for innovation and digitisation expressing their commitment to innovation and digitisation in the implementation of the EUSDR. Furthermore, in September 2021, Slovakia organised an event on how to boost innovation and digitisation in the Danube region , and the 2021 Danube Participation Day was dedicated to “Participation & Digitalisation”. The EUSDSR has also a role to play in cooperating for a digital future with the accession countries. Digitisation is covered by all priority areas. It is of particular importance to Priority area 7 (knowledge society), Priority area 8 (competitiveness) and Priority area 9 (education and skills), given the synergies between the priority areas with knowledge, innovation, skills and thematic application of digital tools, but is also a prime topic for other EUSDR priority areas.

Activities include the facilitation of cooperation among clusters and the creation of innovative digital ecosystems, support to increase the quality of education systems, promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation platforms of excellence as well as support to local innovation and the development of smart specialisation strategies. Examples of projects and processes: Priority area 7 (knowledge society) together with Priority area 9 (education and skills) led a task force in all four macro-regions focused on home schooling. In the light of the pandemic the objective was to collect best practice of homeschooling and e-learning. The focus was on education of migrants, those children who can not attend schools (ill children, immobile, people in need) and marginalized communities. Digitalisation impacts considerably the work of Priority area 8 (competitiveness). A dedicated working group - Digital Danube - addresses the issue and an action of the action plan is focussed on the establishment of an innovative digital ecosystem supporting SMEs tackling the challenges of a digitalised world. Priority area 9 (education and skills) contributed to increased transnational cooperation among schools in the Danube region by co-organizing two Danube Region eTwinning conferences. They brought together 37 teachers from 12 Danube Region countries in 2020, and 49 teachers from 13 Danube region countries in 2021. A total of 23 school cooperation projects were developed by participating teachers. The conferences support innovative approaches to teaching and learning and strenghten the digital skills of teachers through the use of the online eTwinning platform as well as other digital communication tools. With the Danube Region Platform on Centres of Vocational Excellence, Priority area 9 (education and skills) started a new initiative developed through cooperation with the European Training Foundation. The platform aims to support innovation and smart specialization in the Danube region. It provides a regional forum for policy dialogue on VET excellence in going green and social inclusion and aims to promote cooperation between Danube region centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs). Cross-thematic cooperation between Priority areas 1A (inland navigation) and 11 (security) simplifies for the shipping sector through harmonized Danube Navigation Standard Forms (DAVID) forms now used at all checkpoints at and outside the Schengen external borders. After Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Ukraine introduced the DAVID forms in 2020, also Romania and the Republic of Moldova followed in the first half of 2022 and thus completed the introduction process. The DAVID forms replace the three most commonly used border control forms (arrival & departure report, crew and passenger list) and therefore facilitates the border controls for the Danube shipping sector. The first-ever IT summer camp for girls in The Republic of Moldova was supported by Priority area 9 (education and skills). The GirlsGoIT project provides girls and young women with entrepreneurial start-up, digital tech and IT skills encouraging them to pursue a career in IT. GirlsGoIT organises in-demand technical and non-technical trainings and mentoring in IT, knowledge sharing events and workshops in partnership with companies and promotes relatable stories of people in IT. The project was presented during the 2022 EU MRS Week in Brussels. EUSDR thematic priorities and social change, including the inflow of refugees and other consequences of the war in Ukraine As highlighted during the 3rd EU MRS Week in March 2022, Europe is confronted with major socio-economic and environmental challenges, and there is a rising demand to deploy new approaches in order to efficiently and effectively cope with these issues. The EUSDR has a great potential for addressing the social transition. The action plan covers issues mainly related to fighting poverty, promoting social inclusion, vocational education and social entrepreneurship. With the Danube Region Platform on Centres of Vocational Excellence, Priority area 9 (education and skills) started an important new initiative that was developed through intensified cooperation with the European Training Foundation. The platform aims to support innovation and smart specialization in the Danube region. It provides a regional forum for policy dialogue on vocational education and training excellence in going green and social inclusion and aims to promote cooperation between Danube region centres of vocational excellence. Given current challenges, ways to address issues relating to the social transition were explored, not the least given the inflow of refugees and other consequences of the war in Ukraine that affect many EUSDR stakeholders. Thus, established networks with civil society organisations were used to coordinate initiatives to support people in Ukraine or refugees fleeing the war. The setting up of corridors in the form of train routes between Ukraine and the European Union for refugees were supported. However, as the war moves on additional activities may need to be explored. Examples of projects and processes: During the reporting period, the SEED-Hub (Social Entrepreneurship Education and Development Hub) funded through the cross-border Interreg AT-SK programme was launched (Priority area 7 - knowledge society). The project supports social enterprises and entrepreneurs, whose common feature is the assumption of social responsibility working with innovative and sustainable concepts. The aim is to develop long-term partnerships between social enterprises and entrepreneurs who carry out similar activities in the border regions of both countries. SI PLUS funded by the EaSI programme is a new project under Priority area 9 (education and skills) set up in a partnership between Austria, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Germany (Baden-Württemberg) and Slovenia with the aim to foster social innovation in the Danube region and beyond. It boosts social innovation, notably with a focus on employment and the labour market. The project organises mutual learning and transforms research results into practical approaches and tools for implementing ESF+ programmes. It also includes the establishment of National Competence Centres for Social innovation in the participating countries. This umbrella project brings together a diversity of actors, be it from the ESF+, the ERDF, or other funding schemes such as Leader. TALENTMAGNET is a project that addresses major societal (demographic and labour market) challenges caused by the outmigration of highly educated young people, primarily from small- and medium sized towns in the Danube region. The project intends to address these challenges by improved multilevel governance, targeted policy instruments and practical tools to attract and retain talent – tailored to the specific needs of small municipalities. Governance and Administrative involvement and capacity The governance structure of the EUSDR consists of the following functions and levels: ·the national coordinators; ·the presidency; ·the Trio presidency (consisting of the incumbent, past and future presidencies); ·the priority area coordinators; ·the steering groups and their working groups. Annual ministerial meetings in the EUSDR are held within the framework of the annual forum that usually takes place in October.

Political level Each year, the EUSDR presidency is handed over to the succeeding country at the annual forum. Within the reporting period, the EUSDR was chaired by Croatia in 2020, by Slovakia in 2021 and by Ukraine in 2022. Slovenia will chair the EUSDR in 2023 and Austria in 2024. The EUSDR national coordinators have decided to move to a system where the presidencies are determined in alphabetical order. This system will be operational from 2024. The EUSDR presidency is assisted by the Trio presidency (predecessor/incumbent/successor). Following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the EUSDR governance system proved its resilience, when the other two countries in the Trio, Slovakia and Slovenia agreed to temporarily take over the presidency until Ukraine was able to resume its responsibilities. Due to the pandemic and the lockdown that followed, the 9th EUSDR annual forum in 2020 was organised virtually from Zagreb during the Croatian presidency. The event was carried out under the headline Harmonious and sustainable development with a focus on the ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable regional development in the Danube region. The ministerial meeting gave a strong political backing to the embedding process and to the further strengthening of the involvement of the Western Balkans in the EUSDR. The EUSDR annual forum provides an opportunity for the governments of the participating countries to express their continued commitment to the strategy and give strategic direction to key implementers. A ministerial meeting is held in connection with EUSDR annual forum. In 2021, the 10th EUSDR annual forum was organised with the theme Towards a green and digital Danube region in hybrid format from Bratislava during the Slovak presidency. The ministerial meeting took place between the ministers responsible for Innovation and Digitalisation. The result was a joint declaration on digitalisation and digital transformation and the relevance for a better and more focused use of Cohesion Policy funds. The 2022 annual forum was planned to take place in Ukraine. However, due to the war, the 2022 annual forum will be organised jointly by Ukraine, Slovakia and Slovenia in hybrid format from Košice, Slovakia on the theme recovery-development-unity. To support the cooperation in the Danube region at the political level, conferences of Danube parliamentarians take place periodically. Due to the pandemic, however, no such conferences were held in 2020 and 2021. As one of the major regional conferences addressing current societal issues, high-level political dialogue is also organised in the framework of the Bled Strategic Forum, an annual event organised in the Slovenian city of Bled with focus on central and south-eastern Europe where participants exchange views and seek innovative solutions to contemporary and future political, security, strategic and developmental challenges. Implementation level The National Coordinators are the focal points at national level and form the decision-making body for the strategy. Their task is to oversee implementation of the EUSDR in their countries and ensure that the strategy is firmly anchored in the national political environment. Each participating country officially nominates a National Coordinators (NCs) and one or more deputies. Together, the National Coordinators form the “group of NCs” which meets regularly. The National Coordinators keep the EUSDR presidency and the European Commission updated on a continuous basis. The key role of National Coordinators, with support from the Danube Strategy Point upon request, is to coordinate, guide and monitor participation in the implementation of the EUSDR. This includes engaging with all 12 priority areas (including participation in steering group meetings), and liaising with national line ministries and other relevant organisations to encourage them to participate in the implementation of EUSDR actions in their policy field. In order to facilitate the involvement of the political level, all participating countries have set up mechanisms at national level to coordinate EUSDR issues. Cross-sectoral national platforms were established in several EUSDR countries to support continuous dialogue with relevant national/regional/local stakeholders in key areas and initiatives. These platforms aim to coordinate EUSDR issues and involve a wider range of actors, including stakeholders in charge of cohesion policy programmes. One challenge is a strong fluctuation of members of the platforms and to ensure the involvement of actors from different levels (sub-national, regional, local). The EUSDR countries are responsible for coordinating the priority areas and to nominate the Priority Area Coordinators (PACs). Each priority area is managed by at least two Priority Area Coordinators, working with their Steering Group members. The Priority Area Coordinators’ main role is to identify key processes that will achieve the strategy’s goals through different actions and identifying how to best implement activities to this end. The tasks of the PACs are challenging as funding and administrative structures (and political power) to implement a broad set of targets is limited. The EUSDR steering groups (SGs) are the central executive and decision-making bodies at priority area level for cooperation objectives, actions to be implemented and future developments. Some priority areas (notably Priority area 6 - biodiversity) operate with several task forces as intermediate platforms for specific topics. Most steering groups meet, as required, twice a year. However, the participation of steering group members varies significantly between priority areas. For some countries a very high participation level is recorded, while others participate more sporadically. Notwithstanding the participation in the meetings, the engagement of the steering group member can be (very) limited. This may be the result of a high fluctuation of steering group members and the fact that steering group members lack the necessary project development and implementation competence to take strategic decision, when at all mandated to do this. The Danube Strategy Point set up in 2018 as technical support structure has proven to be a success and the key element of the well-functioning EUSDR-governance system. It is run as a single project with two partners, the City of Vienna as Lead Partner, together with the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. The pandemic affected the work of the priority areas, due the lack of physical meetings which limited the smooth running of MRS activities. At the same time, online meetings provide useful as a modality for the future as they are easier to organise, cost less and allow more people to participate. However, digital events cannot permanently replace conferences and meetings in EUSDR. Personal contacts between stakeholders, building trust and individual connections are important. Civil society Civil society organisations in the Danube region act through platforms based on participatory planning, community-building and empowerment. Examples of such platforms include: ·Danube Civil Society Forum (DCSF) with its working group, the Danube Local Actors Platform (D-LAP), which consists of representatives from civil society, cities and municipalities. ·DANET - Danube Networkers for Europe . DANET promotes exchanges and working together in the areas of lifelong learning, social participation, dialogue and co-operation between generations and cross-cultural dialogue in Europe and particularly in the Danube region. ·Budapest-based European House that coordinated the work with the so called Shadow Report - an initiative of civil society organisations from across Europe to prepare an implementation report on EU macro-regional policies from a citizens’ perspective. Efforts to involve civil society is made across all EUSDR priority areas. Representatives of civil society organisations are key partners in arranging and implementing the National Participation Days and Danube Participation Day that are important arenas to bring public administration representatives and civil society organisations together and to coordinate the implementation of the EUSDR at national/regional level. The Shadow Report (mentioned above) emphasize that civil society organisations play an important role in contributing to better decision-making, in particular by bringing local and regional communities closer to the macro-regional strategies. This is important today as many civil society organisations have been severely affected during the pandemic and are only now about to restart their activities. It is therefore crucial to facilitate and systematically increase the involvement of civil society organisations on a partnership basis in the governance structure of the EUSDR.

Youth The inclusion of youth in the governance of the EUSDR is a key priority. Annual events such as the Young Bled Strategic Forum, a capacity building and discussion forum for young leaders already exist. However, the involvement of youth is mainly driven by Priority area 10 (institutional capacity) and needs a broader cross-thematic coverage. The 2020 Danube Participation Day discussed the draft Guidance Paper for Youth Participation in the Danube region, to start a debate on how to reinforce the participation of youth in the governance of the EUSDR. In order to further advance on the issue and following the recommendation of the Manifesto for Young People by Young People to Shape the European Cooperation Policy, the Danube Youth Council Task Force was set up during the Slovak presidency in September 2021. In February 2022, at the 4th meeting of the task force, national representatives of the participating states together with the Danube Strategy Point and DG REGIO finalised the proposal for the establishment of the Danube Youth Council. Inspired by the EUSALP Youth Council, this proposal was initiated by the Slovak EUSDR presidency and further developed during the Ukrainian EUSDR presidency. The Danube Youth Council will provide a platform for institutional involvement of young people in all EUSDR bodies to make ideas and viewpoints of young people heard and considered at the political level. The primary role of the Danube Youth Council is to provide the core decision-making bodies of the Danube region Strategy with advice and recommendations to enable dynamic exchange and learning processes. The council will have 28 members, two from each country participating in the EUSDR. The Danube Youth Council is expected to be established in September 2022. Access to funding and embedding: General overview The Danube Transnational Programme (Interreg) continues to be the most utilised source of funding for implementing projects under the EUSDR action plan. Over the years, integration and alignment between the EUSDR and the Danube Transnational Programme has greatly helped in developing and co-financing EUSDR projects. This programme does not only contribute to implementing the strategy but also funds the Danube Strategy Point and the work of the PACs. Additional funding sources are: other Interreg programmes in the region, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). Funding has also been allocated from mainstream regional and national cohesion policy programmes. Cohesion policy programmes 2021-2027 The Danube Transnational Programme alone cannot, by far, cover all requests for funding to implement the action plan. That is why it is necessary to embed the strategy in other funding programmes. Thus, in November 2019, on the initiative of the Croatian presidency, the EUSDR embedding task force was set up. The task force brings together key EUSDR stakeholders at all levels with the aim to facilitate access to financial sources, notably mainstream Cohesion policy national and regional programmes. Moreover, embedding is not limited to EU funding programmes, also national and regional budgets as well as financial opportunities by other donors should be considered. During the reporting period, the work initiated by Croatian presidency in collaboration with National Coordinators, Priority Area Coordinators and the Danube Strategy Point was taken forward by the Slovak and Ukrainian EUSDR Presidencies. The success of the embedding depends on the early involvement of national and regional programming authorities. Since 2015, the EUSDR has a European Social Fund Managing Authority (MA) Network. In 2021, networks for the European Regional Development Fund/Cohesion Funds Managing Authorities and the IPA/NDICI programming authorities' network were established. The 2021 action plan plays a key role in the embedding process. This being said, the action plan (with over 85 actions) is difficult to be embedded due to its wide scope. Hence, in 2020, the Priority Area Coordinators and their Steering Groups drew up, based on the action plan, a shortlist of three strategic topics for each Priority area to be included in the relevant national/regional programmes. National Coordinators had a priori gathered national managing authorities of the cohesion policy/IPA/NDICI funds, as well as other relevant stakeholders to explore ways to take the embedding process forward. An initial shortlist of 36 actions turned out to be too unfocused and was narrowed down to five areas that matched with priorities of the funding programmes. During the 2nd trimester of 2022, thematic workshops for the five areas will be organised, bringing together relevant EUSDR key stakeholders and the programming/managing authorities. During the reporting period numerous supporting documents for the embedding were prepared, such as the following: ·The Embedding tool – Prepared by the Danube Strategy Point, it supports the PACs in the selection of strategic topics (shortlist). It is also used by NCs when approaching managing authorities and provided to authorities responsible for the strategic planning and programming of the ESI/IPA III/NDICI funds. ·EMBEDDING in a nutshell with the EUSDR EMBEDDING MA LEAFLET - A comprehensive and compact summary of EUSDR Embedding for managing/programming authorities, NC, PACs and other stakeholders working on EUSDR Embedding into EU programmes for the period 2021–2027. ·Guidance Paper on embedding the EUSDR into EU programmes , drafted by the Croatian presidency setting out the principles for the embedding in the EUSDR. ·From Words to Action – a discussion paper prepared by the Slovak EUSDR presidency outlining potential embedding activities to be used by managing/programming authorities to incorporate the EUSDR objectives into their actions. An example of such activities is synchronised calls explored within Innovation Express (Priority area 8 - competitiveness), an initiative covering several MRS. ·From Actions to Funding – a discussion paper elaborated by the Ukrainian EUSDR presidency with support of the EUSDR Trio presidency and the Danube Strategy Point. As the embedding now moves from programming to implementation, the focus shifts to monitoring where the key task will be to determine the concrete use of the embedding tools (calls, labelling, etc.). In this process, it will be crucial to scan calls relevant for the EUSDR via EuroAccess, monitor projects via the Priority Area Coordinators Reporting Tool, monitor projects via managing/programming authorities) as well as keeping track of programme evaluations. Funds directly managed by the Commission

In addition to cohesion policy programmes, EUSDR projects are also co-financed by other EU funding instruments, notably directly managed programmes such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), Erasmus, LIFE and Horizon 2020/Europe. The number of activities that receive funding from these sources is increasing. The CEF has been of particular importance to projects in Priority areas 1A (inland navigation) and 1B (rail, road, air). The Komárom-Komarno cross-border bridge (Priority area 1B) between Hungary and Slovakia, that included a new bridge and connecting highway sections across the Danube to connect the cities of Komárom and Komarno inaugurated in September 2020, was funded by CEF. Horizon 2020 supported projects in Priority areas 4 (water), 5 (environmental risks) and 7 (knowledge society) such as DAREnet, OPTAIN and TRESCA. At the end of 2021, a dedicated call under Horizon Europe for the establishment of the Danube river basin lighthouses was launched. The Horizon Europe work programme on Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area is of particular interst to EUSDR stakeholders. LIFE is used by Priority areas 5 (environmental risks) and 6 (biodiversity) to support several projects such as LIFE SandBoil, LIFE-MICACC and LIFE WILDisland. In addition, Priority area 5 (environmental risks) receives funding for DiMaND (Disaster Management Network in the Danube region) and PROFOUND (Flood response activities in the Danube region - macro-regional scale field exercise) from DG ECHO. Priority area 11 (security) gets support from the Internal Security Fund - Police (DG HOME) for a project aiming at the dismantling of illegal methamphetamine laboratories (drug meth labs) in the EU. European Commission’s Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) provides support to the SI PLUS project (Priority area 9 – education and skills) while Priority area 1A (inland navigation) finances the COMPETING project (education and training for inland navigation crew members) under Erasmus+. Monitoring and evaluation Progress on implementing EUSDR actions is monitored through the reporting on targets. At national level, monitoring is carried out by the National Coordinators through coordination structures set up with relevant ministries. At the level of priority areas, the steering groups are responsible for monitoring progress. In addition, as all PACs are funded as projects under the Danube Transnational Programme, and PACs reports their activities according to the rules of the programme. Monitoring of projects is done at the level of each priority area, but also by the programmes under which the projects are funded. Until now, there has been no structured tool for monitoring progress and achievements that allows for an overview of developments of the EUSDR over time. Thus, in order to reinforce the monitoring and identify the impacts and achievements, the National Coordinators asked the Danube Strategy Point to develop a new monitoring system . Introduced during 2022, the new monitoring tool brings together existing processes and information as well as includes topics and processes not covered to date. The timing of the regular EUSDR monitoring is aligned with the preparation of the Commission’s report of the state of play of the MRS. The updated EUSDR evaluation plan (2021) specifies the evaluation activities to be carried out. The plan was developed by the Danube Strategy Point in close collaboration with the steering group for evaluation (SG DANUVAL). The evaluation plan is divided in two parts. In 2019, an operational evaluation was conducted with a focus on EUSDR governance, communication and stakeholder involvement. This evaluation provided valuable input for the revision of the action plan. An impact evaluation is carried out in 2022. Its focus is on the action plan and the embedding process. An updated version of the EUSDR evaluation plan is also expected during the year. In addition, ESPON is conducting Territorial Scenarios for the Danube and Adriatic Ionian Macro-regions (TEVI2050). Communication The principles of EUSDR communication activities are stated in the EUSDR Communication Strategy (2020), the EUSDR Communication Guide (2020) and the three annual EUSDR Communication Plans (2019, 2020, 2021). The Danube Strategy Point has a key role in the work acting as a communication hub. Numerous communication activities were carried out during the reporting period such as: ·The success stories e-brochure was produced by the Danube Strategy Point on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the EUSDR. This is an online interactive brochure that provides information on important historical landmarks of the strategy as well as an overview on activities supported by the strategy. ·The EUSDR newsletter regularly informs about strategy developments. In November 2021, the EUSDR newsletter had 673 subscribers, of which 167 were a part of the EUSDR governance. ·Since April 2020, 31 videos were created and disseminated on the YouTube channel. These videos include 25 thematic clips on pillars or Priority areas of the Strategy (posted in series), two clips of general presentation, two interventions of Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, and two videos highlighting progress made during specific EUSDR presidencies. ·Between 16 April and 30 June 2021 (ten weeks), an ad campaign was conducted via Google ads and Facebook. The ad campaign ran on 28 web portals in the 14 Danube region countries and on relevant Facebook accounts. Moreover, in June 2021 the EUSDR SmartApp was introduced. It pro