8 TH MEETING OF THE PA10 STEERING GROUP Ljubljana, June 12, 2015

PA10 Coordination European Commission/DG Regio Reporting European Parliament Council EESCCoR Steering Group (civil servants from the 14 Danube Region countries & EC, RCC, EESC) Advisory Committee for D-CAP (AC D-CAP) Advisory Committee for D-LAP (AC D-LAP) Advisory Committee for UPDR (AC UPDR) Advisory Committee for D-FIP (AC D-FIP) Stakeholder Platforms Capacity Building Platform Danube Region (D-CAP) Danube Local Actors Platform (D-LAP) Urban Platform Danube Region (UPDR) Financing and Investment Platform Danube Region (D-FIP) EUSDR High Level Group (NCs) Other EUSDR Priority Areas (PACs) Danube Transnational Programme (ETC) Int. Organisations (RCC, CEI, CoDCR, IOM, etc.) Danube Strategy Point

7th SG Meeting (Oct. 2014) – agreed meetings / deadlines 4 Nov.: D – LAP Advisory Committee meeting (Vienna) 19 Nov.: Submission of top 4/15 preselected PA10 START applications Jan.:Joint UPDR and CoDCR meeting 19 Feb.:D – CAP Advisory Committee meeting (Ljubljana) 20 Feb.: Conference Reinforcement of E-governance in the Danube Region (Ljubljana) Apr.: 4th Danube Financial Dialogue (Zagreb) 23 Apr. (tbc): D-FIP Advisory Committee (Zagreb)  postponed to Oct. 29/30 12 June 2015: 8th PA10 Steering Group (Ljubljana) June 2015 (tbc): civil society national hearing, 2nd meeting of the AC D-LAP (Vienna) Autumn 2015 (tbc): 5th Danube Financial Dialogue (Bulgaria)

PA 10 Update 4 STAKEHOLDER PLATFORMS: 1.Capacity Building (D – CAP) 2.Local Actors (D – LAP) 3.Urban Platform (UPDR) 4.Financing and Investment Platform (D – FIP) SPECIAL PROJECTS: 1.Danube Financing Dialogues (DFD) 2.Technical Assistance Facility for Danube Region Projects (TAF – DRP) 3.Danube Region Small Projects Fund (START) 4.EuroAccess

EuroAccess

PA 10 Targets TargetAction PA10 Platform 1 “Improve World Bank governance indicators related to government effectiveness, regulatory quality and control of corruption in comparison to 2011” [Max. 4 weeks for business start-up permissions by 2015] “To combat institutional capacity and public service related problems in the Danube Region.” D-CAP 2 “80 % of participating countries involve the national, regional and local authorities and CSOs through annual national (provincial) EUSDR consultations in cooperation with the National Coordinators of the EUSDR” [Establishing a platform including civil society organizations and open governance networks] “To improve the trust of citizens and stakeholders in political authorities.” D-LAP “To establish a Danube Civil Society Forum.” 3 “The UPDR helps to generate, through the exchange of information and the support, on all levels of cooperation, for 25% of UPDR stakeholder organisations at least one Urban Danube Project, furthering the aim of better spending” [To facilitate network of metropolitan areas and systems by 2014] “To build metropolitan regions in the Danube region”. UPDR “To improve the trust of citizens and stakeholders in political authorities” “To facilitate the administrative cooperation of communities living in border regions” “To ensure sufficient information flow and exchange at all levels.” 4 “Increase the average absorption rate of EU funds in the Danube region in comparison to period” [Establish a Danube Financing Platform by 2013] “To review bottlenecks relating to the low absorption rate of EU funds and to ensure better coordination of funding.” D-FIP “To support the development of local financial products for business and community development” “To examine the feasibility of Danube Investment framework.”

4 th EUSDR Annual Forum Ulm, Oct. 29 – 30, 2015 PA 10 Activities: 1.2 nd Participation Day 2.CoDCR conference 3.Joint SG meeting PA1b, PA8, PA10 4.D – FIP Advisory Committee meeting 5.Panel discussion on civil society 6.Workshops (2): urban issues, inst. capacity 7.Information stand: TAF – DRP, START

Next Steps 17 June: reception at the house of the city of Vienna (Brussels) 18 June: intervention of Kurt Puchinger at the EESC, ECOSOC meeting (Brussels) June: floating conference PAC, NC, EC and DSP meeting (Bratislava/Vienna) 18 September: ARGE Donau Meeting 28 October: 2 nd Participation Day of the EUSDR (Ulm) October: 4 th Annual Forum of the EUSDR (Ulm) * CoDCR conference * PA10 panel discussion, workshops and information stand * Joint SG meeting PA1b, PA8, PA10 * D – FIP Advisory Committee meeting 13 Jul.- Sept.: TAF – DRP 3 rd call SG selection procedure (via ) 27 Jul.-18 Sept.: START 2 nd call SG selection procedure (via ) Nov (tbc):Conference on Good Governance as Fundament of European Integration (Vienna) Nov (tbc) : D – CAP Advisory Committee (Vienna / back to back to the conference)

SG Meeting Conclusions 1.SG takes note of the PA 10 general orientation and welcomes the progress made. 2.SG endorses new targets that correspond to PA10 actions from EUSDR Action Plan. 3.SG takes note of the results of internal questionnaire and supports the promotion of Danube projects with significant macroregional impact within PA SG supports the proposal for a meeting of ministers for regional development. PA 10 (in cooperation with PA 8 and PA 1B) will approach NCs to initiate such a meeting and is ready to support the DSP in thematic preparations of the meeting.