EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) – People and Skills

The EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), which has been in place since 2011, aims to promote the development of the Danube Region, an association of 14 countries. Austria (BMA and BMBWF), together with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, is coordinating the priority area “Investments in People and Skills”; L&R supports the BMA in its coordination tasks in the area of labour market.

The overarching goal of the Danube Strategy is to provide all citizens of the Danube Region with better opportunities for education, employment and prosperity in their home region. This goal of the EUSDR is to be achieved through a more efficient use of already existing structures and resources as well as through a coordinated approach in the coordination of policies of different levels, different sectoral strategies and financing instruments.

In addition to Austria, thirteen other states participate in the EUSDR, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine (western regions) and Hungary. For general, horizontal coordination, National Coordinators (NC) have been established in the individual states (in Austria: BMLRT and BMEIA).

Priority area 9 is mainly concerned with (especially pre-university) education, labour market policy and inclusion. The content priorities in the area of labour market concern international cooperation in labour market policy, digitalisation in the labour market, social inclusion and the integration of marginalised groups in the Danube Region.

Within this framework, regular initiatives (workshops, conferences, webinars, etc.) are launched to network actors from all countries of the Danube Region and to work on the further development and initiation of cross-border cooperation and projects. More information can be found on the PA 9 website.

Find more information here.

The project is funded by the Danube Transnational Programme.

Client: Federal Ministry of Labour
Team: Barbara Willsberger, Jörg Mirtl
from: 2020 to: 2022