EU Macro Regional & Sea Basin Strategies Days 2026
The Macro‑regional & Sea Basin Strategies Days 2026 will gather all eight EU macro‑regional and sea basin strategies, Alpine, Danube, Adriatic‑Ionian, Baltic Sea, Atlantic, Western Mediterranean, Black Sea and Greater North Sea for a two‑day high‑level event in Brussels.
Co‑organised by DG REGIO and DG MARE, the event serves as the annual strategic platform for cooperation across borders, governance levels and policy domains.
Strategic Context
The 2026 edition takes place at a pivotal moment for the EU, shaped by:
- Early orientations of the new European Commission
- Initial signals from negotiations on the post‑2027 Cohesion Policy and Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)
- Heightened focus on security, resilience, competitiveness, enlargement, and place‑based delivery
- Persistent geopolitical instability, climate pressures and socio‑economic transformation
Macro‑regional and sea basin strategies, flexible, multi‑sectoral and cooperative by design, are well positioned to respond to these evolving priorities
Key Themes for 2026
Building on the 2025 edition, the event will explore how the strategies can:
- Strengthen their positioning in the post‑2027 landscape
- Enhance governance, visibility and embedding into EU/national funding frameworks
- Move from coordination toward collective delivery
- Align with emerging EU policy directions and instruments
- Support territories, citizens and stakeholders through cross‑border cooperation
The event provides space to take stock of ongoing developments and anticipate future opportunities.
Objectives
The 2026 Strategies Days aim to:
- Reflect on the new Commission’s priorities and their implications
- Clarify the strategies’ contribution to future EU delivery frameworks
- Facilitate exchange among strategies, EU institutions, national/regional authorities, stakeholders and civil society
- Build on practical recommendations from the 2025 edition, particularly on governance, visibility, embedding and joint action