Deputy Minister Nikolova participates in a meeting on the future implementation of the Danube Strategy

The future implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region was discussed at a meeting in Vienna, in which the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Denitsa Nikolova participated together with the national coordinators, coordinators of priority areas, the new Contact Point for the Danube Strategy and representatives of the European Commission.

During the meeting, the discussion on the change of the Action Plan of the Danube Strategy according to the Roadmap, which was approved during the Bulgarian presidency of the Strategy, was continued. By the end of January 2019, the coordinators of the priority areas must provide summary information on the consultations on the revision of the Action Plan, based on the guidelines and guidance issues prepared during the Bulgarian presidency. The national coordinators will discuss and decide on the next steps in the audit in February 2019.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister Nikolova said that we must adhere to the schedule approved during the Bulgarian presidency, even if it is too ambitious. “We must not miss the moment when the Danube Strategy adapts to the new realities and challenges when debating the EU’s future priorities after 2020,” she stressed. “We need a change in the Action Plan and the bottom-up approach, and close cooperation with the coordinators of the priority areas is extremely important,” Denitsa Nikolova said.

During the meeting, discussions were held on the common platform for monitoring macro-regional strategies within the ESPON project, the draft communication strategy of the Danube Strategy, a proposal for evaluation of the Danube Strategy, as well as the need to revise the Procedural Rules for the work of national coordinators.