EU Strategy for the Danube Region
Priority Area 10 - Working Group 2 Civil Society
2. Working Group Meeting 21.-22. March 2013
1.
Roadmap for 2013/2014
The EU Strategy for the Danube Region, EUSDR, was established in 2011 in the context of the new place-based
approach with a strong emphasis on participation, implementing the imperative of the Lisbon Treaty (§ 8b.2) to
“maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.” The
place-based approach requires strengthened local and regional institutions that are able to assess and develop
local economic assets and sustainable participative processes mobilizing local stakeholders- mainly business and
civil society.
Key aims of the EUSDR are to
•
establish new learning processes and new forms of co-operation in the Danube river area;
•
transform former conflict areas (e.g. former Yugoslavian countries) to areas of co-operation;
•
bring new perspectives, know-how and practice to the national and regional administrations;
•
further regional development by the use of respective EU and coherent national policies,
•
promote the adaptation of EU policies and regulations in countries which are in their accession or
preparation phase to the EU membership.
To achieve its aims EUSDR follows a top-down co-ordination mechanism that should increase the effectiveness
and efficiency of territorial co-operation. The decision-making (policy-formulation) and the implementation
process are mainly driven by the European Commission, National Coordinators, Priority Area Coordinators and
participating states. This does not mean that other Stakeholders, as the Civil Society, are excluded from the
strategy. However, the existing operational experience of EUSDR shows significant shortcomings where the
horizontal involvement of actors and the integration of bottom up strategies are concerned.
One reason was the fact that many Priority Area Coordinators (PACs) as key level for the implementation of the
EUSDR have little experience of working with civil society organisations. While some PACs could build on a long
standing experience of cooperation with civil society (for example in environmental issues) others had neither
experience nor means or funds to include civil society in their working structure. The second was the absence of
funding to enable the participation of civil society organisations in the EUSDR working structures.
Priority Area 10 | Institutional Capacity and cooperation
www.danube-cooperation.eu
EU Strategy for the Danube Region
2.
Actions of PA 10- WG 2 Civil Society for 2013/2014:
PAC 10 (Institutional Capacity and Cooperation) is working on a transversal basis, offering support on the
administrative (PAC) level to promote civil society participation and to facilitate contacts and exchange between
the PAC and civil society organizations. All three Actions have been discussed with DG Regio and other PAC’s and
met high approval and interest.

The Danube Civil Society Platform:
Amongst other actions, PA 10 , in close cooperation and coordination with the Danube Civil Society Forum (DCSF)
is proposing the creation of an internet platform which will offer the possibility of a structured communication
between CSO’s, PAC’s, regional and local administrations and projects in the region With this platform, civil
society can increase it’s advocacy capacities in the Danube area. Regional umbrella organizations like the DCSF
are able to extend the horizontal and sectorial participation and increase the promotion of democracy and human
rights, rule of law, and the sustainable development of the environment.
However, participation of the civil society in administrative and political decision making processes is a relatively
new phenomenon in the Danube area. Given the top-down co-ordination mechanism of EUSDR, cooperation and
capacity building efforts in the region to foster an “open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative
associations and civil society” are doomed to fail or to engage in a time- and resource-consuming process with
EU-, national, local and EUSDR institutions and actors, if there is no political support from the top level of
participation (member-) states and regions.
PA 10 and DCSF will circulate the necessary information about participation in the platform by summer 2013. The
Second EUSDR Civil Society Form will be held in Ruse, Bulgaria in the second half of September 2013. The Forum
will bring together civil society stakeholders from the EUSDR, the EUSDR Priority Coordinators and DCSF members
and membership applicants. The Forum will discuss the coordination and cooperation among PACs and civil
society stakeholders and develop joint (mixed) structures and thematic portions for the EUSDR Annual Forum
2013, Bucharest.
PA 10 WG 2 Members are asked to:
Encourage as many Civil Society Organizations and EUSDR- projects as possible to actively participate in the
platform and the stakeholder Conference in Ruse.
Encourage PA’S in their countries to link up with the platform and the CSO’s in their area of activity
Encourage national, regional and local administrations and political representatives to use the platform for
contacts with stakeholders, integration of civil society actors in decision making processes and the development of
projects.

Help-GV goes Danube:
With Help.gv, PA 10 proposes to share good practices in e- government solutions with those countries of the
Danube Region that have not introduces them yet. Austria’s Help.gv.at provides information on a large range of
interactions between public administration and civil society- more than 200 “life events” are covered on the
home-page, which also offers down-load of official documents, direct contact to national regional and local
administrations and a series of links. Special emphasis is put on transparency, actuality and easily understandable
information. The administration of Help.gv.at is located centrally in the Austrian Chancellery, which kindly
provides assistance to PA 10 for this project.
Priority Area 10 | Institutional Capacity and cooperation
www.danube-cooperation.eu
EU Strategy for the Danube Region
PA 10 plans to organise a Seminar for interested administrations in autumn 2013, in cooperation with the
Austrian Chancellery.
PA 10 WG 2 Members are asked to:
Spread the information about Help.gv to potentially interested partners in the Danube Region
Support PA 10 in finding interested national, regional or local (city) administrations willing to introduce Help.gv
and participate in the Seminar in autumn 2013

The “Danube Charter”:
In 2011/12, the City of Vienna conducted one of the biggest participative processes in Europe, namely the
development of the “Vienna Charter”. The Vienna Charter, developed with the citizens of Vienna in hundreds of
public discussions as well as online, defines the framework of how a multicultural, complex and modern city
wants to live together in an inclusive, sensible and dynamic way. PA 10 proposes to spread this process to the
Danube Area, inviting Cities and metropolitan areas to develop this process with the support of the City of Vienna.
As a first step, the project will be presented to the Council of Danube Cities and Regions. Further steps will include
cooperation with the European Fundamental Rights Agency and Eurocities, as well as other concerned
International Organisations. Information about the Vienna Charter Process will be put on the Danube Civil Society
Platform as soon as possible in order to encourage exchange of information between Cities. PA 10 plans to
organize a Seminar for interested cities in autumn 2013, in cooperation with the City of Vienna and other
European Organisations.
PA 10 WG 2 Members are asked to:
Spread the information about the Vienna Charter to potentially interested Cities in the Danube Region
Support PA 10 in finding City administrations interested in the Charter process and participate in the Seminar in
autumn 2013

Social Partnership in the Danube Region:
PA 10, together with PA 9 and the Austrian Trade Unions, is conducting a survey of the situation of the tradeunions in the countries of the EUSDR. The aim is to develop made to measure pilot training schemes for trade
union representatives, in order to further and foster social partnership structures in the Danube region. The
European Economic and Social Committee will be involved, as well as other European Organisations. In the
context of Social Partnership in the Danube Region, PA 10 is trying to encourage the building of a DanubeIntergroup in the EESC, in analogy to the groups working in the Council of Regions and the European Parliament.
PA 10 WG 2 Members are asked to:
Gather all information that could be useful for the evaluation of the respective situation of trade unions in the
EUSDR-countries, leading to the development of a Danube training scheme for trade- union representatives.
Encourage national representatives in the three groups of the EESC (Employees, Employers and Civil Society) to
form a Danube Intergroup in order to strengthen the cooperation between Social Partners and Civil Society in the
Danube Region on a European level.
Priority Area 10 | Institutional Capacity and cooperation
www.danube-cooperation.eu
EU Strategy for the Danube Region
3. PA 10 WG 2/Civil Society Strategies for 2013
In order to enhance the participative character of the EUSDR and its implementation, PA 10 is proposing the
following activities:
•
Formation of a EUSDR Civil Society Platform, easing communication between EUSDR PACs and civil society
stakeholders on an open website;
•
Installation of a Civil Society Platform Workshop as integral part of any annual EUSDR Forum; The EUSDR
Annual Forum 2013 in November in Bucharest will be amended by a workshop on participation including a best
practice project presentation and an open for civil society actors to present themselves. This workshop will be
jointly organized by PAC 10, the DCSF and Baden-Württemberg and closely coordinated with the Romanian hosts
(Romanian MFA, City of Bucharest) and the DG REGIO.
•
State that technical assistance for capacity building of civil society organizations and local and regional
administrations should be available in the frame of the new Danube Programme;
•
Encourage the implementation of participative elements in EUSDR projects wherever meaningful,
efficient and possible.
Priority Area 10 | Institutional Capacity and cooperation
www.danube-cooperation.eu