In the period 13-14 May 2024, the 25th meeting of the Steering Group of Priority Area 11 “Security” of the Danube Strategy was held in Munich, Germany. It was chaired by the Interior Ministry of Bavaria.

Representatives of 10 of the 14 member states of the Danube Strategy participated, as well as partners from the Danube Strategy Unit, Europol, the Center for Law Enforcement in South-Eastern Europe (SELEC), DG Regional Development of the European Commission and the Danube Youth Council.

The meeting started with welcoming words from the PO 11 co-coordinators from Bavaria and Bulgaria, as well as from the National Coordinator for Bavaria, emphasizing the importance of the long-standing successful cooperation between the Ministries of the Interior of the two countries, as well as the fruitful work in one of the most important areas not only regionally but also internationally, which is security.

Two discussions were held between the representatives of the individual countries. The first concerns the application of the Governance Architecture Paper and more specifically the way of interaction at the national level between the National Coordinators, the PO 11 Coordinators and the members of the Steering Group, as well as the need to train the new members of The management group. It was concluded that no communication problems were identified at national level with the National Coordinators, and that training and continuity were of particular importance for effective operation and different training options could be considered to be readily available.

The second discussion was regarding the strategic Danube projects (Danube flagships), with the countries united around the opinion, shared by Bulgaria, that efforts should be focused on projects that actually have added value in their implementation and would have development – those that have been proven successful projects over time are the DARIF project as well as the joint collaboration between PO 1a and PO 11. Another successful initiative that was highlighted and should be followed up over time is the study presented at the meeting on the impact of war in Ukraine on arms trafficking and other security threats.