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Inspiring days at the 2nd Annual Forum/13th BDF Summit in Gdansk!

More than 700 people participated in the Second Annual Forum organised jointly with the Baltic Development Forum's 13th Annual Summit  and in cooperation with the Polish EU Presidency, the Pomorskie Region and the City of Gdansk on 24-26 October 2011 in Gdansk (Poland). 14 parallel sessions on the various thematics covered by the Strategy were offered, alongside an impressive networking and project village with exhibitions by some 40 Flagship Projects, key businesses and regional institutions. Evaluations of the event have been very positive, and the EUSBSR team at DG Regional Policy would like to thank everyone who contributed to making the Annual Forum successful!

In his opening address, Commissioner Johannes Hahn thanked the stakeholders for their impressive work on the Strategy, while also reminding participants of the continued importance of ensuring political support and adequate administrative engagement, as well as the alignment of policy and funding with the Strategy.

Director General Dirk Ahner presented the state of play concerning the setting of indicators and targets for the Strategy. This work will make it possible to clearly track the Strategy's contribution, and enable decision-makers to make informed policy choices. National Contact Points, Priority Area Coordinators and Horizontal Action Leaders are currently working actively on this topic.

Professor Ketels from the Harvard Business School presented the 2011 State of the Region Report, stressing that the EUSBSR had been a greater cooperation success than anticipated. Its emphasis on implementation was a key strength, but it still needed to be more imaginative and appeal more strongly to the business sector.

The Third Annual Forum will take place in Denmark in June 2012, in close cooperation with the upcoming Danish EU presidency.

Indicators and targets for the Strategy

A meeting was organised by Interact on 9 November 2011 in Arlanda (Sweden) to invite Priority Area Coordinators (PACs) and Horizontal Action Leaders (HALs) to work closely with National Contact Points on the design of indicators and targets at Priority Area/Horizontal Action level. It was agreed that PACs and HALs will submit a proposal to the Commission by Mid-December, whatever the progress of their reflection is at that stage.

General Affairs Council Conclusions

On 15 November 2011 the General Affairs Council (GAC) adopted conclusions on the review of the EUSBSR. The Council recognised the contribution of the EUSBSR towards achieving common EU goals as well as towards addressing the shared challenges of the macro region. The conclusions, which utilised the Commission's Report of 22 June 2011, offer a broad list of recommendations to the Commission and the Member States on issues such as intensifying political commitment, applying an integrated approach through the coordination of policies and alignment of funding, introducing targets and indicators as well as cooperating with third countries. The Conclusions call on the Commission to review the EUSBSR in the light of these recommendations by early 2012.

Taskforce on roles and responsibilities

A key recommendation of the Commission's Report on the implementation of the EUSBSR and of the Council Conclusions concerns the need to strengthen implementation structures. Consensus on roles and responsibilities is needed to ensure an effective implementation of the Strategy.

Throughout the implementation of the EUSBSR, a dialogue between the Commission and the Russian Federation has been taking place on how to intesify cooperation on joint priorities in the Baltic Sea Region. The Northern Dimension policy and the Council of Baltic Sea States have assisted. By relying on these structures, where Russia is an active member, a number of joint priorities has been identified. The next step is to develop these into pilot projects, thereby taking the cooperation to a more concrete level.

Analysis of needs for financial instruments

SWECO's Analysis of needs for financial instruments in the Strategy was delivered to DG Regional Policy in October.  The report looks at the financial, non-financial and structural gaps against the background of existing instruments.

All Priority Area Coordinators have applied for the EU technical assistance for implementation of their actions. Most PACs requested the maximum 120.000 EUR. By 15 December 2011 all the grant agreements will be signed. It is hoped that similar assistance can be made available to PACs and HALs in the future.

Swedish Minister for EU Affairs paid a visit to Flagship Project of Priority Area 13

Being an EUSBSR Flagship Project offers high-level visibility! On 9 November 2011, the Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson visited the "EfficienSea" project in Copenhagen. The project, whose Lead Partner is the Danish Maritime Authority, is a Flagship Project under Priority Area 13 on maritime safety and security. The EfficienSea project contributes to the Strategy´s ambition for the Baltic Region to become "a leading region in e-Navigation". The project is co-financed by the Interreg IV B Baltic Sea Region programme.

During her two-hour visit, the Minister was given a broad presentation of the  project, which includes 16 partners in 6 countries, among these four Swedish partners. She was also briefed on the project´s efforts for e-Navigation, which aims at developing safer and more user-friendly navigation systems. The Minister saw a demonstration of an e-Navigation prototype system, which is currently being tested onboard 20 vessels and ashore. This includes a number of services, such as Maritime Safety Information presented as symbols in the chart compared to today´s text messages, as well as on-route forecasts of meteorological and oceanographic information, and new possibilities for vessels to exchange route information.

In this context, the Minister was briefed on the project´s efforts to make a regional contribution to a future, global standard for e-Navigation as developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

On 18-20 January 2012, EfficienSea will hold an international conference entitled "e-Navigation Underway" onboard a cruise ferry, which is a part of the project´s test-fleet. More information about this conference and the project can be found at www.efficiensea.org.

Christmas wishes!

The EUSBSR team at DG Regional Policy would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We would like to thank you for the good cooperation on implementing the Strategy in 2011, which we are looking forward to continuing in 2012!

Last Updated on Friday, 02 December 2011 18:46

At the B7 Annual Conference, held at Rügen November 22, the importance of cooperation with other Baltic Sea Area organisations such as BSSSC, CBSS and CPMR-BSC was repetedly underlined.

Dr Werner-D Klucke, CBSS taskforce was one of the speakers and he agreed that a cooperation beteen Baltic Sea Regional organisations is of importance.

BSSSC was represented in the meeting by the Managing Director of the secretariat Mrs Malgorzta Ludwiczek who strongly supported the idea of B7 will try to form a youth board along the successfull lines of BSSSC.

Mrs Ilona Jepsena, Head of Unit of DG Mare, gave an up-date information on the work of the DG Mare.

In the meeting the BSC member regions of Gotland, Mr Åkes Svensson, who took over from Rügen as President of the B7 during 2012, and the governors of the Estonian islands Mr Hannes Maasel Hiiuma and Mr Kaido Kaasik of Saaremaa participated.

- The Baltic Sea coastal environments are understood, well managed and respected in all activities related to shipping and maritime safety. Governments and regions work together cross-border to ensure an effective response, on land and at sea, to maritime pullution

- Ports carry out their activities and responsibilities regarding waste, discharges and ballast water management in a manner that has a minimal negative impact on the Baltic Sea environment while still en- couraging business development and economic growth

- Regions, governments and international organizations work together to ensure that existing conventions and regulations are observed and that the appropriate protective measures are introduced in the Baltic Sea Region to prevent maritime accidents

- Regulations and incentives for shipping aimed at protecting the envi- ronment while allowing shipping companies to be competitive within the Baltic Sea Region and in the world by supporting new technology and innovation

- The culture of ship crews is environmentally and safety oriented, sup- porting efficient handling of ship generated waste and preventing ship accidents

Full report "The future of the Baltic Sea - The future of Maritime safety and environmental protection from a local and regional perspective" Baltic Master II Political Vision

TEN-T documents and maps published by the European Commission, October 2011. At http://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/connecting/revision-t_en.htm you can download and read all relevant documentation and maps for the session on transport.

Last Updated on Sunday, 30 October 2011 21:53

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:47

We are deeply horrified and shocked by the tragic loss of so many life's on Utøya and in Oslo.

Our thoughts turn to all those who has been affected by the dreadful atrocity.

We will never sub-come to this form of attack on our open societies and a democracy.

Erik Bergkvist

CPMR Baltic Sea Commission President

Several BSC members were present as the political week of summer Sweden took place in Almedalen, Visby.

There is a trend to have regions represented and this year Region Västerbotten joined this trend.

At St Gertruds gränd the BSC roll-ups and folders offered a quick overview of the
aim of the BSC.

Two of the projects BSC is supporting presented themselves and their results up to date in Almedalen Baltic Master II and  TransBaltic .

During the Västerbotten mingel several BSC members and friends joined. There was the idea that next year BSC ought to be represented at the ”Östersjö center” (Baltic Sea Center) in Almedalen along with other Baltic Sea organisations. Region Västerbotten and Region Gotland will continue to develop this idea.

Last Updated on Friday, 15 July 2011 10:50

Please find enclosed the Draft Agenda of the next meeting of the BSC working group on maritime issues, which will take place in Helsinki on 14 September 2011. This meeting will focus on the three following issues:

- Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management. Helcom will participate in our discussions on these issues. Having a debate on MSP and ICZM in September will be especially relevant, as the European Commission will make propositions for new action on MSP and ICZM at the end of 2011/beginning of 2012.

- Maritime safety, as a seminar on this issue will be organised by the CPMR (including the BSC) in partnership with the Baltic Master II project. The seminar will take place on 6 December in the European Parliament.

- Blue growth and naval industry, in line with the initiatives launched by the European Commission and possible new CPMR (including BSC) initiatives.

All BSC Regions are very welcome to take an active part in this meeting, and we would in particular welcome presentations from BSC Member Regions on MSP and ICZM, focusing on both political and technical issues (should there be EU Directives on MSP or ICZM for instance, and how do the BSC Regions contribute to MSP and ICZM).

2011-09-14 Helsinki Draft Agenda BSC Maritime Issues Working Group

Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 July 2011 07:01

Take a look at the BSC history files.

Under About BSC we have added "BSC history". Here you will find the booklet on our history, Mr Karlssons speech at the BSC General Assembly May 26, 2011.

We have also added several of the documents that were collected/scanned for the project.

Please enjoy!

Last Updated on Monday, 13 June 2011 16:53

We will be adding the PPTs as soon as we receive them.

Dr. Philipp Schwartz, Head of the Joint Technical Secretariat, Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013, Joint Technical Secretariat

2011-05-26 BSC GA Seminar Archipelago and Islands cooperation

Hanna Smith, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki Unioninkatu 33 (PL 42), 00014 Helsingin yliopisto, FinlandCome sail with us from Stockholm to Helsinki

2011-05-27 BSC GA Seminar Russiaand Baltic Sea

Here is the link the photos that were taken.