Danube Region Programme

11/06/2026

Did you know that the Interreg Danube Region Programme has been bringing communities together to forge a sustainable future for themselves and future generations for over 20 years? 🌊

Last year, celebrated 35 years in the twin city of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, which together hold the title of Cultural Capital of Europe 2025. 🎉🇪🇺

There's a symbol from this region worth knowing: Marco Cavallo, a giant blue horse born in Trieste in 1973. A symbol of collective desire and the power of communities to change their own reality — together. 🐴💙

This is exactly what the Interreg Danube Region Programme is doing - building trust and connecting communities while providing sustainable solutions to shared challenges for 14 countries and the millions of people who call the Danube Region home. 🤝🌿

04/06/2026

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. 🌍

03/06/2026

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! 🚀

01/06/2026

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.

29/05/2026

🏛️ 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! 🌊🏛️

28/05/2026

26/05/2026

🌊 What happens when two Interreg Danube projects meet by chance and decide to build something together?

🤝 It started at a conference in Ulm. Two project partners met while presenting their work on urban transformation. They noticed they were asking many of the same questions, just from different angles.
💡 No top-down instruction. No pre-planned synergy framework. Just two teams recognising that their work was complementary and choosing to go further together.
🌱 That encounter grew into a genuine partnership. In April 2025, they co-organised the international conference "Regenerating Places, Reimagining Futures" in Reșița, Romania, bringing together over 120 participants from 10 countries over three days of exchange, field visits and collaboration.

🏛️ Together, they brought local authorities, investors, civil society and academia into the same room to tackle the challenges facing post-industrial small and medium-sized towns across the Danube Region, from governance models to European funding instruments, from public-private partnerships to the New European Bauhaus.

🔗 This is what synergy looks like in practice. Not a box to tick — but a real multiplier for impact.

✅ Shared knowledge across borders
✅ Stronger stakeholder networks
✅ More sustainable models for industrial heritage regeneration

🚀 This is exactly why the Interreg Danube Region Programme encourages projects to connect, learn from each other, and grow together. The results speak for themselves.

22/05/2026

📢 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

20/05/2026

🤝 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

19/05/2026

🏀 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. 🌍