EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region – Peter Schenk

EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea RegionBSPC Standing Committee MeetingBrussels, 22 February2018Peter SchenkEuropean CommissionDirectorateGeneral for Regionaland UrbanPolicyEU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region –key facts•First macro-regional strategy in the EU (launched 2009)•8 EU Member States; 80 million people (16% of EU population)•Joint challenges/opportunities•Threeobjectives: 'Save the Sea', 'Connectthe region', 'IncreaseProsperity'•13 Policy Areas, 4 Horizontal Actions•Better and more effective use of existing policies, funding, institutions and legislationFirst Commission report on the implementation of all four macro-regional strategies, COM(2016)805•Takingstock: Achievementsand challenges•Council Conclusions (April 2017), Committeeof the Regionsopinion (November2017), European Parliamentresolution(January2018)Study: "Macro-regional strategies and their links with cohesion policy" (Dec 2017)•EUSBSR set the relevant objectives and addressesrelevant needs•Achievements both in terms of content and process•Funding: mainlyInterreg, but alsootherEU fundingsources•Need for more strategic alignment between the MRSs and ESIF (regulatory framework and programming stages)•Recommendations: e.g. requirementfor cross-sectoral and cross-territorial coordination in any new EU policy and in EU funds; better support for matchmaking between transnational collaboration proposals and funding (MA-networks)Developments•Evaluation: Study contracted by DG Regioon ‘Macro-regional strategies and their links with cohesion policy’ (December 2017)•Monitoring: ESPON "European and Macro-regionalTerritorial Monitoring Tool" (kick-off Jan 2018)•High-levelGroup meeting on Macro-regionalStrategieson 1st March 2017•Reporting: 2ndCommission report on the implementation of all four macro-regional strategies (by end 2018)•Funding: ERDF Managing Authorities’ Network in the Baltic Sea region in support of the EUSBSR (ongoing)•Communication: Update and implementation of the Communication Strategy for the EUSBSR (ongoing)•EUSBSR AnnualForum 4/5 June2018 in Tallinn: https://www.balticsea-region-strategy.eu/9th-annual-forum•9th Annual Forum of the EUSBSR•www.baltic–sea-region-strategy.eu•Thank you for your attention!