The preparatory work on the up-coming EU-strategy on the Baltic Sea Region will officially be launched at the stakeholder conference 30 
September in Stockholm. Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and EU Commissioner Danuta Hübner will address the many regional stakeholders that are involved in the work.
The European Commission has launched an ambitious consultation process that will lead to the adoption of the EU Strategy by the European Council during Sweden’s Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2009.
Already today, many seminars, discussions, and activities are going on related to the strategy. Baltic Development Forum is taking active part in the different networks and seminars that cover not only political actors, but stakeholders from all sectors and all EU countries of the Region.
- 22-23 September, BDF will co-organize a high-level seminar in Warsaw on the EU-strategy, since Polish involvement in the Strategy is of strategic importance. Focus will be on the strategy as such and on the topics related to entrepreneurship, innovation, and the Internal Market. The Polish partners are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Office of the Committee for European Integration) and the Polish Think Tank DemosEuropa.
- At the 2008 BDF-summit in Copenhagen-Malmö 30 November-2 December will provide input since a series of panel discussion and workshops at the Summit will be organized. They will all be focusing on the chapter of the EU-strategy that will deal with the Baltic Sea Region as a “Prosperous and Competitive region”.
- BDF will ensure that substantial input will be given to the European Commission, not least through publishing the 2008 State of the Region Report which benchmarks the countries of the region in terms of competitiveness and economic growth. The 2008-Report will be presented at the Summit.
- At the initiative of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a high-level group of personalities of the Region has been gathered with a view to presenting a vision for the Baltic Sea, highlighting especially the political context of an enhanced regional co-operation inside the EU. BDF has been part of this process – that was initialized at the 2008 BDF Summit in Tallinn – from the outset.
- Together with eight other Baltic Sea organizations (see the list below), BDF is giving input to the process. At the premises of Danske Regioner in Copenhagen Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Co-operation (BSSSC) organized 22 August a meeting with the objective to elaborate a joint response to the EU’s decision to develop a Baltic Sea Strategy. A common paper of this platform will be presented to the European Commission at Stakeholder Conference in Stockholm, 30 September.
- The European Commission’s website on the EU BSR Strategy is expected to be launched soon where the many national non-papers can be found.
Roadmap to the EU BSR Strategy:
- Warsaw, Poland, 22-23 September 2008: Seminar on the economic dimension of the
- Strategy
- Kaunas, Lithuania, 18-19 September 2008: BSSSC Annual Conference, including a roundtable
- on the accessibility and attractiveness issues in the EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
- Stockholm, Sweden, 30 September 2008: Stakeholder conference
- Gdansk, Poland, 13 November 2008: Roundtable on environmental issues in the EU Baltic
- Sea Region Strategy
- Copenhagen, Denmark, 1-2 December 2008: Baltic Development Forum Summit, including a
- roundtable on economic development issues in the EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
- Helsinki, Finland, 9 December 2008: Roundtable on the safety and security issues in the EU
- Baltic Sea Region Strategy
- Rostock, Germany, 5-6 February 2009: Stakeholder conference
List of Participants in the 22 August meeting:
- Euroregion Baltic
- Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Cooperation
- CPMR Baltic Sea Commission, Baltic Development Forum
- Barents Euro-Arctic Council, Union of the Baltic Cities
- Baltic Metropoles Network
- B7
- Baltic Sea Chambers of Commerce Association
- Baltic Development Forum