EU funding for Danube region projects

Until 2020, the European Union made available HUF 70bn for cooperation and support projects within the Danube region, as on 20 August 2015 the European Commission adopted the Danube Transnational Program elaborated jointly by the fourteen countries of the Danube basin.

According
to the Ministry for National Economy, the program that grants funding for
transnational cooperation projects in accordance with the priorities of the
EU’s Danube region strategy focuses on the funding of joint R&D and social
innovation projects, the fostering of entrepreneurial spirit, environmental and
cultural responsibility, the bolstering of transport infrastructure
development, energy security as well as a low-carbon economy.

For the
time being, the aim of the cooperation projects based on the joint partnership
of several countries is to prepare – instead of actually complete –
infrastructure development projects under a transnational planning, research
and professional cooperation mechanism, he added.

The Danube
Transnational Program is one of European transnational programs that are to be
realized within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation, the
second pillar of the EU’s cohesion policy. Geographically, the program covers
the macro-region defined by the EU Danube Region strategy: it is made up by the
countries of the Danube basin and their regions. Accordingly, the 14 partner
countries include EU member states such as – besides Hungary – Austria,
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Germany (the states of Bavaria
and Baden-Württemberg), Slovakia and Slovenia as well as non-EU states such as
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine with four regions.

The
announcement of the first call for proposals is scheduled for the beginning of
September, while others are to follow each year. A monitoring committee
comprised of the representatives of partner countries has been commissioned to
decide which proposal to support.