Danube Region Programme

Something exciting happened yesterday in Budapest. 🌊

The first Task Force meeting dedicated to shaping the new programming period brought together Task Force members from across the Danube region, and the energy in the room was energetic and full of expectations.

🩵 One shared purpose united everyone present: to build on what has worked, go further, and create a future that truly serves all Danubians. 🤝

From the very first session, expectations were high - and rightly so. 🎯 The new programming period is a new opportunity to continue deepening transnational collaboration, strengthen communities, and invest in what matters most to the people and places of our beautiful region. 🌍

Yesterday was one of those days that reminds you why this work matters. 💙

We had two meetings back-to-back. ⚡

First one - the National Contact Points meeting. 🤝 The discussion centered around: how NCP colleagues can support synergy building and capitalization at national level, and the dissemination of project results. The conversation was practical and forward-looking. We also took stock of communication activities from the first semester of 2026, and not just ticking boxes, but asking what's actually landing. 📊

Then the Monitoring Committee meeting stepped in. 🏛️

Implementation progress, DRP updates, project changes - all on the table. 📋 The latest progress on DRP implementation was reviewed. A dedicated hands-on training session on the TA DMS module rounded out this segment, making sure everyone is equipped with the right tools to move forward. 🛠️

We also took a close look at MA/JS communication activities - an important update about where the Programme stands and what needs attention. 🔍

We all had the same drive yesterday: how to make the Danube Region Programme work better for the people and projects it serves. 🌊

And today… 👀

Today the 1st Task Force meeting is taking place. Stay tuned! 🚀

Blaž works in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he is involved in projects related to spatial development and territorial cooperation.
⛷️Outside of work, he enjoys an active lifestyle, especially running, mountaineering, spending time in the mountains, and being in nature in general. 🙌 https://interreg-danube.eu/blogs/people-opf-the-danube-insights-and-voices-from-across-the-region

People of the Danube 🌊
Behind every Interreg project there are people — coordinators, project partners, officials, researchers, community organisers - who spend years navigating complex partnerships, shaping policies that make a real difference, and building something that outlasts the project itself. 🤝
Through this series, we talk to the people of the Danube region about what they learned, how they grew, and why working across borders matters.

🏛️ Why start from scratch when you can build on success?

The ROMAN LEGACY project https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/roman-legacy held its first major expert meeting in Novi Sad last month and one of the biggest takeaways was the power of learning from experience.

The team behind the Iron Age Danube Route (funded by the Danube Transnational Programme/DTP) https://www.ironagedanuberoute.com/ shared their journey of building a certified Council of Europe Cultural Route and ROMAN LEGACY is taking those lessons straight to heart. Same region, accumulated wisdom, new Roman chapter. 🏺⚔️

Smart collaboration, shared knowledge, stronger results. Stay tuned! 🌊🏛️

📢 Calling all policymakers, energy planners, and sector stakeholders across Central and Eastern Europe - this one is for you.

Good energy policy starts with good data. 📊

The REHEATEAST Visualization Platform is now live at reheateast.neuzrt.hu and it's the most comprehensive open-access evidence base ever built for the district heating and cooling sector in our region.

🌡️ District heating and cooling serves millions of households across CEE. Yet comparable, structured data on the sector has long remained fragmented — making cross-border policy dialogue and informed reform harder than it should be.

That changes now.

The platform brings together utility-level statistics, regional trends, and national overviews across 8 countries:
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina · 🇧🇬 Bulgaria · 🇭🇷 Croatia · 🇭🇺 Hungary · 🇷🇴 Romania · 🇷🇸 Serbia · 🇸🇰 Slovakia · 🇸🇮 Slovenia

🎯 For policymakers and stakeholders, this means:
👉 📁 A single, structured evidence base for cross-border comparison
👉 🔍 Insight into structural challenges and reform opportunities in DHC systems
👉 ✅ Documented best practices ready to inform national and regional strategies
👉 📌 Data accessible at national, regional, and utility level — all in one place

As the EU accelerates its push toward building decarbonisation and heating sector reform, decisions must be grounded in regional realities. 🌿 This platform makes that possible.

💬 We call on decision-makers, regulators, utility operators, and energy professionals to explore the platform, bring its insights into your policy dialogue, and use it as a foundation for collaboration across borders.

The data is there. The best practices are documented. Now it's time to act. 🤝

👉 Explore the platform: reheateast.neuzrt.hu

🤝 The Interreg Danube Region Programme encourages its projects to cooperate, build on each other's results, and capitalise on the work done across the two previous programming periods. 🌍 Knowledge and professional networks travel further when projects work together and that benefits the entire region.

For Monica, whose project Skills4Life (https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/skills4life) supports young people leaving the special child protection system in the Danube region - young people facing barriers to education 📚, employment 💼, housing 🏠, and social inclusion 🤲 - synergies and capitalisation are not just programme requirements. They are a way to multiply impact where it matters most. 💡

"Synergy - building and capitalisation activities strengthen cooperation across the Danube Region and at EU level, contributing to a better understanding of social economy challenges and the needs of vulnerable groups, especially vulnerable youth. They help us exchange good practices 🔄, transfer innovative solutions ✨, and improve the quality of policy recommendations and strategic planning. These activities also support better alignment between local, regional, and European priorities 🎯, while expanding the range of services offered to target groups, increasing project impact, and ensuring more sustainable long-term results."

Monica Magureanu, Skills4Life project

🏀 Mirza lives and works in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina , where he is actively involved in developing the local IT and innovation ecosystem. Outside of his professional work, he enjoys spending time with his family and coaching basketball for children, which he sees as a way to contribute to the community in a different but equally meaningful way. 🙌 https://interreg-danube.eu/blogs/people-opf-the-danube-insights-and-voices-from-across-the-region

People of the Danube 🌊

Behind every Interreg project there are people — coordinators, project partners, officials, researchers, community organisers - who spend years navigating complex partnerships, shaping policies that make a real difference, and building something that outlasts the project itself. 🤝
Through this series, we talk to the people of the Danube region about what they learned, how they grew, and why working across borders matters. 🌍

💡 Here's something we don't say often enough: the synergies you're seeing didn't just happen. They were planned for.

From the very beginning - when projects were still at the application stage - DRP MA/JS built in the expectation that results should travel. That projects should connect. That what gets created in one funding cycle should feed into the next, not disappear at the end of the Programme

That's not a small thing. A lot of programmes talk about capitalisation. Fewer actually structure their support around it, from day one, all the way through implementation and beyond. 🔄

We wanted to understand what this feels like from the inside. So we asked Lead Partners and experts who have been part of this process to share their perspective - why it matters to them, and what it makes possible that wouldn't otherwise be. 🎙️

We'll be sharing more of these voices. Because behind every synergy, there are people who chose to show up, open up, and build something bigger than what they started with. 🤝