New Action plan of the EUSBSR macro-regional strategy for boosting resilience and recovery in the Baltic Sea Region

The Commission welcomes the adoption of an updated Action Plan of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) that aims to boost the transnational cooperation in the Baltic region towards a more efficient recovery. This new plan will strive for a green and digital transition, making best use of the #NextGenerationEU recovery package and aligning policies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Cohesion and Reforms Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (pictured) said: “More than ever before, Europe's recovery and prosperity demand co-operation across policy areas, countries and regions. The coronavirus pandemic shows that international co-operation is an essential approach in solving cross border issues and has proved to be an effective tool to strengthen, share and accelerate resilience, recovery and secure economic and social development. Co-operation is at the essence of the EU Cohesion policy, and the updated Action Plan of the Baltic Sea region strategy comes at the right time.”

The new Action Plan will guide investments under the 2021-2027 Cohesion policy-programming period and will involve young people in the governance process. It will also introduce a simplified coordination and management system, the reduction in the number of actions from 73 to 44, structured under 14 policy areas, and a Trio of Presidencies to promote coherence and continuity. Finally, a Baltic Sea Strategy Point is established to coordinate capacity building and knowledge sharing, and improve the communication capacity. The EUSBSR is the first EU macro-regional strategy (MRS). It was established in 2009 to provide a political platform for cooperation between countries in the basin of the Baltic Sea and its hinterlands. It stretches from Lapland to the North of Germany and is home to around 85 million inhabitants.

Involving 12 countries, the EUSBSR is the second largest and most diverse macro-regional strategy: eight EU Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden) and four Neighbouring Countries (Belarus, Iceland, Norway, and Russia).

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