Stronger.Together - The magic of EU macro-regions

ongoing

European House (EH) is a Hungarian civil society organisation established more than 30 years ago and with its manifold activities it has a well-established pro-European approach and reputation both on national and European levels. EH has a reliable network/contact points in 19 EU Member States. Macro-regional strategies are a relatively new policy-making field of the EU with non-integrated participation of CSOs. The ’Stronger. Together – The magic of EU macro-regions’ programme of European House is based on its broad Europe-level contacts and aims to • reveal and build on the still hidden potential of macro-regions for CSOs; • bring under one roof CSOs from the 4 macro-regions (the Baltic Sea, the Danube, the Adriatic-Ionian and the Alpine) and coordinate their contributions to shaping and implementing EU policies in a specific field; • make full use of the intermediary position of macro-regions located in-between EU and local levels; • raise awareness of citizens especially young people towards European issues using a bottom-up approach. Programme objectives are achieved by • a well-functioning CSO network from the 19 countries of the 4 macro-regions with annual forums (agoras); • elaborating a strategy paper for the creation of a civil pillar of macro-regional strategies with annual workplans; • increase of citizen participation in the governance structures of macro-regions; • training sessions on civil participation and capacity building; • encouraging citizens turnout especially of young people at the 2024 EP elections; • meeting ordinary citizens in their natural environment e.g. at a railway station or at a market place. A broad range of conventional and new innovative information tools will also assist the attainment of objectives. Europe is the leitmotif and the compass of the applicant operating with its broad European outreach from a battlefield country. The notion of gender equality and non-discrimination will be strictly applied throughout the