We are inviting you to consult the draft text of the Danube Transnational Programme 2021-2027 and fill in the short questionnaire below by 19th February 2021.

Thank you for your support in shaping the future transnational cooperation in the Danube Region.

The questionnaire is available at http://www.interreg-danube.eu/about-dtp/dtp-post-2020-form/invitation-to-stakeholders-consultation

Note: Brief info about the DTP

The Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) is a financing instrument of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC), better known as Interreg, which currently supports 120 cooperation projects across the Danube Region. ETC is one of the goals of the European Union cohesion policy and provides a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different partner states.

The DTP gathers one of the highest numbers of participating countries among all the Interreg programmes: 9 EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany – with the two länder Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria-, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) and 5 non-EU countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine - four provinces: Chernivetska Oblast, Ivano-Frankiviska Oblast, Zakarpatska Oblast and Odessa Oblast).

The DTP promotes economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through policy integration in the fields of innovation, environment, culture, transport, energy security and governance.

In order to achieve a higher degree of territorial integration of the very heterogeneous Danube region, the transnational cooperation programme acts as a policy driver and pioneer to tackle common challenges and needs in specific policy fields where transnational cooperation is expected to deliver tangible results.

Your contribution in the preparation phase of the new programming period 2021-2027 of the future DTP2 will help shape the programme according to the territorial needs of the relevant stakeholdeRS.

Transnational cooperation in a nutshell

Transnational cooperation programmes, like the DTP, bring together European regions and cities located in different participating countries that share many challenges and opportunities due to their common geography, history, and culture. The variety of natural environment, the socio-economic differences and cultural diversity of the various parts of the area may be perceived as major challenges but actually represent important opportunities and unexploited potential.

Transnational cooperation programmes acts as a policy driver and pioneer to tackle common challenges and needs in specific policy fields where transnational cooperation is expected to deliver tangible results. This is done by building regional capacities following an integrated bottom-up approach involving and coordinating relevant actors from all governance levels.

Due to its relatively small budget, the DTP 2014-2020 used its niche and catalyst function for strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through the following type of actions, with training and capacity building as a horizontal elements:

• Development of common orientations, frameworks and strategies in fields of transnational relevance
• Development and practical implementation of transnational tools and services
• Pilot activities including small-scale investments
• Preparation of transnational investments
• Accompanying information, dissemination, capitalisation and publicity measures