Sofia will host the 15th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region on 3-4 November, the regional development ministry says. Sign-up for the event is now open.
The meeting is the main event of Bulgaria's 2026 chairmanship of the strategy. Its motto is "Connected regions, more cohesion: a stronger Danube for all," and the goal is to narrow economic, social and territorial gaps between regions.
Bulgaria has set several priorities: transport and economic links, tying the strategy to EU policies and funding after 2027, and bringing candidate countries into the cooperation. Other priorities are the potential of small and medium-sized towns and the link between the Danube and Black Sea regions.
Ministers in charge of regional development from Danube countries meet on the first day, before the forum officially opens. The event will bring together European and national institutions, countries in the region, regional and municipal authorities, universities, civic groups and young people.
The agenda covers transport and multimodal links, skills and local economies, water management and climate change, security, and the role of small and medium-sized towns. A separate part of the programme looks at cohesion policy after 2027 and where macro-regional strategies fit into it.
The strategy itself does not hand out money, the ministry says — it is a framework for agreeing priorities, joint projects and combining EU and national funding. Fourteen countries take part. The ministry says the topics matter directly to Bulgaria because they touch on regional links, gaps between regions, and access to investment, jobs and services in poorer and remote areas.
At Bulgaria's initiative as chair, the strategy sent an appeal to the European Commission last week. The document asks EU policies and projects to take into account how vulnerable the Danube region is to low river levels, droughts and other water extremes. It also asks that programmes, investment and EU funding help affected countries and regions cope better.
In July, Bulgaria set out in Brussels what the Danube region needs, guidelines meant to feed into the next EU budget for 2028-2034. In Ruse, the chairmanship held an event on links between the Danube and Black Sea regions, focused on connectivity and closer regional cooperation.
Caretaker regional development minister Ivan Ivanov took over the rotating chairmanship at a ceremony in Sarajevo in early November last year. Bulgaria's aim as chair, he said at the time, is fewer inequalities and more opportunities for the regions.
The chairmanship runs for one year. Bulgaria first led the Danube strategy in October 2017, also for a year.
The forum is organised with support from the DSP 3 project for the Danube region secretariat, co-funded by the EU under the Interreg Danube Region programme 2021-2027.