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Budapest provided venue for the first EU macro-regional workshop on water on 19th April, initiated by EU Strategy for the Danube Region ‘Water Quality’ Priority Area and jointly organised with Interact Programme. The meeting provided the first opportunity for networking and exchanges across the macro-regions of EU in a horizontal understanding of the field of water. All four MRSs were represented on the workshop focusing on freshwater-related matters and common freshwater-marine issues. Besides exchanging knowledge and sharing experiences on how the water matters are addressed in the different regions, main challenges were outlined together with best practices and lessons learnt. Taking into account the conclusions of the meeting, it can be proposed to continue exchange on specific thematic and on the MRS governance-related questions in a workshop in the first half of 2019.

The European Commission unveiled the Multiannual Financial Framework for the EU’s long-term budget for 2021-2027, the first proposal after the UK’s departure from the bloc. Funds spent on EU policies will be €1.24 trillion, more than €220 billion higher compared to the previous period’s MFF. Cohesion policy suffered the biggest cut of 7% to €442.4 billion. Commission wants to have an agreement finalised by the European elections in May 2019.

The fourth and last call for proposals for interregional cooperation projects opened on 7 May. The Interreg Europe programme contributes to the EU's cohesion policy and the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy by supporting policy learning among relevant organisations. Related to the strategy, applicants are invited to submit proposals under one of the four priority axes (innovation, economic development, low-carbon economy, environment). Public authorities, public law bodies and private non-profit bodies are eligible to receive all the remaining ERDF and Norwegian funds for projects.

In the last decades the joint river basin of the Leitha/Lajta River has been affected by several floods which caused widespread damage in the neighbouring regions of Austria and Hungary. Common strategic activities are necessary for the adjustment of the safety level to the particular requirements of each of the two countries. Therefore, on the 25th of April 2018 the second joint and public field practice of the PLATFORM project was organized in Hegyeshalom with the participation of 185 experts. Next to the ad-hoc defence centre different sandbag reinforcements and counter pressure pools were placed, mobile night-lighting system was demonstrated, machineries for localization of oil spills were put on operation and all activities were on-line reported with a quadrocopter drone.

The 6th European Civil Protection Forum, organised under the central theme of "Civil Protection in a Changing Risk Landscape", took place on 5 and 6 March 2018 in Brussels. The event gathered 900 representatives from the European civil protection community, countries of the European Neighbourhood, first-line responders, academia, international organisations, NGOs, and European institutions to discuss the current developments in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism framework and put forward new ideas for tackling common challenges.
EU Strategy for the Danube Region PA5 – Environmental Risks priority area Hungarian coordination and the coordinators for Policy Area Secure in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region organized a thematic break-out session in the topic of transnational cooperation for effective disaster risk management.

EUSDR PA5 coordination is intent to collect the results of finalized or ongoing research projects and best practices within the Danube basin in the field of climate change adaptation. Therefore the priority area is planning to finance in 2018 a Thematic Issue 'Climate Change Adaptation in the Danube Region' of the Journal of Environmental Geography.
All related academic research papers are welcomed!