12. 3. 2018 | Danube, PR, Youth
Young are indispensable and very resourceful part of each society. Active and creative minds are important for economic development, prosperity as well as for positive outlook. We have therefore identified start-ups as one of the most active among young and decided to bring them together to discuss their views and experiences. We are most interested in their participation in policy processes and ideas how to make their lives better and meaningful in the region they share – Danube region.
As Slovenia is hosting an important regional conference related to start-up world, Podim conference, our discussion will be organized at the same time – to offer young twofold experience: sharing experiences and knowing peers from the region and listening to excellent entrepreneurs, startups as well as investors. So save the date on 15 and 16 May!
We invite two startups from each country to join us! Tickets and accommodation will be provided for best two ideas from each country*, so apply fast – only until Friday, 23.3.2018! You should apply through the link for your country below.
You can read about our last year’s gathering – 2017 gathering report.
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
BULGARIA
CROATIA
CZECH REPUBLIC
HUNGARY
MOLDOVA
MONTENEGRO
ROMANIA
SERBIA
SLOVAKIA
UKRAINE
* Austria, Germany and Slovenia are excluded as their youth is well represented through other projects.
22. 1. 2018 | Danube, PR
For victims of trafficking in human beings, the Danube Region is not only a destination for exploitation. A significant amount of victims of human trafficking in Europe is recruited from within the Danube Region, in particular within Romania and Bulgaria. Cities and municipalities can play a crucial role in identifying and assisting victims as well as preventing trafficking in human beings as local actors are closest to both victims and traffickers. Effectively combatting trafficking in human beings requires cooperation between different local stakeholders from public authorities and law enforcement, civil society and further actors involved in the field as well as a coordinated transnational approach. However, cities and municipalities often lack the capacities and know-how to act accordingly and need to establish cooperation ties between the various stakeholders.
Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation” of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) organized the Round Table on “Preventing & Combating Human Trafficking and Exploitation at Local Level” in Vienna on 24th of November 2017. Experts and newcomers from public administration, civil society, international organizations and academia shared their experience in the fight against trafficking in human beings (THB). Slovene experiences were presented by Society Ključ (Društvo Ključ) and Slovenian Karitas, supported by CEP representative.
The participants emphasized the important role of local actors in fighting trafficking in human beings as they are the closest to both victims and traffickers and can therefore more easily detect them. However, there are severe gaps and training needs among frontline responders. Claudia Singer (EUSDR Priority Area 10) presented the recent “Guidelines for Municipalities” in the Danube Region that provides some guidance for identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking as well as mapping and preventing human trafficking at local level.
In a current study, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) analyses the risks of exploitation, training needs as well as good practices in victim protection. Enrico Ragaglia (ICMPD) pointed out that one of the challenges is that victims might not be aware what crime they are victim of, which makes the detection of victims more difficult for official bodies. Additionally, the status of victims can be challenged through the transnationality of the crime, meaning that victims of human trafficking might not be classified as victims in the legal sense in the country of destination as the crime of human trafficking took place in a different country. Thus, victims are not part of a legal procedure and are not granted victim rights.
Against this background, the experts shared examples of proven measures to support victims such as toll-free helplines, setting up crisis units with stakeholders from different sectors that assist victims and evaluate the state of play on a regular basis, drafting a set of tasks for collaboration or envisaging protection programmes. Experts from city administrations and civil society presents some good practices addressing better coordination through standing working groups (Vienna, AT), cooperation between civil society and law enforcement (Ljubljana, SI), comprehensive assistance for victims (Barcelona, ES) and awareness raising (Moscow, RU).
The next D-CAHT seminar will take place in the first half of 2018 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The Round Table on “Preventing & Combating Human Trafficking and Exploitation at Local Level” is part of the initiative Danube Cities Against Human Trafficking (D-CAHT) of Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity and Cooperation” of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). The initiative aims at raising awareness of trafficking in human beings among local actors, providing local actors, administration, representatives of NGOs with information and know-how by highlighting good practices in cities and municipalities and identifying common challenges and provide practical tools for the work of local actors.
The Round Table on “Preventing & Combating Human Trafficking and Exploitation at Local Level” was co-financed by the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme/European Union and the city of Vienna.
Documents:
Guidelines for Municipalities: Stepping up local action against human trafficking in the EU Strategy for the Danube Region
Danube Cities against Human Trafficking: Round Table on Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking and Exploitation at Local Level
12. 12. 2017 | Danube, PR
European Parliament recently published Report on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies, where the institution strongly supports macro-regional integration and offers a number of elements and suggestions for concrete activities on the level of macro-regions in the future.
Macro-regional strategies have gained importance in recent years as a platform for transnational cooperation between Member States but also with third countries. They provide an integrated framework to address mutual challenges and exploit common potential. In the 2014-2020 programming period, MRS have been incorporated in the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) programmes.
Currently, four existing MRS (Baltic, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian and Alpine) are bringing together 19 Member States and 8 non-EU countries. Some Member States participate in more than one MRS, whereas Slovenia is the only country that participates in three macro-regions.
MRS are set within the boundaries of the “three no’s” principle: no new EU funds, no additional EU formal structures and no new EU legislation. Financial support does come in form of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) transnational cooperation programmes which are financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
As the Commission states, MRS are about more than just funding because they “bring citizens of different Member States together and improve their social and economic living conditions through trans-border cooperation.”
Centre for European Perspective as the coordinator of the EU Strategy for Danube Region’s priority area Institutional Capacity and Cooperation in the Danube Region (PA 10) aims to promote cooperation between the 14 countries (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova and Ukraine) for enhancing sustainable development and competitiveness of this part of Europe and follows closely the developments in the field.
A full report of the European Parliament can be accessed here.
16. 11. 2017 | Danube, PR
Danube University Krems and the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe are hosting a conference “The EUSDR – Common Approach, Shared Competences” addressing the challenges for policies, economics, science, culture and education in the Danube Region.
European as well as international developments reveal numerous challenges for the EU Strategy for the Dabube Region (EUSDR) and the EU itself. Participants discussed the role of the institutions at local, regional, national and global levels implementing the EUSDR’s objectives, prerequisites for a stronger European idea in the Danube Region and throughout Europe, against growing right-wing populisms, extremisms and radicalization processes, and potentials for creations of new perspectives for the Danube Region.
CEP’s executive director Dr Gorazd Justinek spoke at the panel discussion “Necessary Concepts, Planning Horizons and Perspectives for a European Togetherness” together with Dr Mathias Czaika, Professor for Migration and Integration at the Danube University Krems, Mag Elisabeth Pacher, Consultant for European and International Culture Policy at the Federal Chancellery of Austria, Gyula Ribàr, Senior Expert Associate for EU Funds, Foundation Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture and Maria Schwarzmayr, Art Initiative „Divided Cities”. The panel was moderated by Mag Adelheid Wölfl, Correspondent South-Eastern Europe for Der Standard. Dr Justinek addressed the changing nature of the European integration project, touched upon the enlargement process and discussed the numerous crises the EU is facing today, but also the benefits the integration brings to the European population.
20. 10. 2017 | Danube, PR
The 6th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) that took place on 18-19 October 2017 in Budapest, jointly organised by Hungary (current Presidency of the EUSDR), the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Programme, concluded with intense discussions and future challenges in the post 2020 period.
Under the title ‘A secure, connected and prospering Danube Region’, the Forum emphasised different challenges related to energy security, transportation development, clean connectivity issues and financing opportunities.
On the first day, ministers in charge of the EUSDR adopted a joint statement setting out principles and priorities for the future – regional energy security, infrastructure development and clean connectivity, which can be boosted with an optimised use of EU funds. The plenary session on the second day was followed by DTP Capitalization Workshops, each dedicated to one of the 12 thematic poles. Main objective of the capitalization strategy is to connect projects with similar objectives and target audiences to have greater outreach and reach a critical mass of people interested in the topic. Thematic Pole 11 workshop, Participatory and Local Governance, that is closely connected with the targets of the Priority Area 10 of the EUSDR, discussed a problem of measuring participatory governance. A problem of collecting evidence is one of the main bottlenecks. The workshop was led by pole leader Blaž Barborič, that is managing Attractive Danube project, followed by AgriGo4Cities and RARE project representatives and a key note speaker dr. Janez Nared from Anton Melik Geographical Institute, who shared rich experiences from their various projects. Priority Area 10 coordinators together gave an input on how to build inclusive approaches as well as they briefly reported on their activities. In the scope of Funding opportunities for the pillars of the EUSDR, Priority Area 10 collaborated in presenting financial prospects for the Pillar IV, Well-Governed Danube Region.
Lastly, the Forum closed with a challenging debate on Macro-Regional Strategies in post 2020 context that was discussed by representatives of all 4 macro-regions and European Commission. Presidency wheel was handed over to Bulgaria who will preside and coordinate EUSDR activities one year.
Get an insight into the Forum in the gallery below:
25. 9. 2017 | Danube, PR
The EU macroregional strategies conference on Media and Communication »Know thy neighbor« that was held between 20 and 22 September 2017 in Portorož, Slovenia, addressed key issues that stakeholders are facing at their daily work. That is especially how to improve the visibility of macro-regional strategies in the public sphere and how to strengthen the media support to macro-regional endeavors. For the first time in the history of macro-regions, communication officers of all 4 macro-regions (Baltic, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian and Alpine) joined to discuss the synergies they could all benefit from and how to overcome the common obstacles in reaching out to general public.
Conference brought together over 160 representatives of media, practicians, academia, general public and interested stakeholders from the four EU macroregional strategies to discuss the topics, platforms, tools and process that would improve connectivity within the macro-regions and contribute to visibility of their work and projects. The emergence of macro-regional strategies (MRS) has been driven by a number of EU countries and regions as a complement to traditional national policies on territorial management. The aim of a macro-regional strategy is to mobilise new projects and initiatives thereby creating a sense of common responsibility.
Prominent and experiences professionals from the world of communication shared their views and opinions, suggested concrete steps for consolidation of the communication, improved communication channels and added an important view of journalists on the outputs and functioning of the macro-regions. During the workshops and joint efforts participants contributed their experiences as each macro-region has its own approach for coordination of the activities and involvement of media and wider public.
Participants by the end of the gathering agreed that a single horizontal pillar for all 4 EU macro-regional strategies is needed as it would be of help in creating sufficient visibility for macro-regional strategies’ joint endeavors and understanding, and support for the exchange of ways of thinking and acting within the MRS.
