The National Coordinators (NC-group) of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) met on 26 September at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn, Estonia. This was the first NC-group meeting of the Estonian Chair, taking over the role from Sweden. 

Themes of the Estonian Chairmanship

In the meeting a report of the Chairmanship of Sweden (from mid-2016 to mid-2017) was discussed after which the focus was shifted to the Estonian Chairmanship: during the following year the future of the EUSBSR as part of larger EU policy developments will be of crucial importance and the key stakeholders of the EUSBSR should be involved in the debates concerning future Cohesion Policy Framework, for example.

Annual Forum 2018

Preparations of the Annual Forum in Tallinn on June 2018 were presented to other NCs by the Estonian Chair. The website of the Annual Forum is now open. Main topics of the Annual Forum 2018 are "the EUSBSR and Cohesion Policy after 2020", "the EUSBSR and the Digital World" as well as "the EUSBSR and Maritime Environment".

Open call for parallel seminar organiser will most probably open in early 2018 and the programme of the Forum should be published in April. Also registration to the Annual Forum will open around April.

Three new Flagships approved

The National Coordinators supported three new EUSBSR Flagships in their meeting. All three Flagships work under Policy Area Secure:

• ECoHuCy – Enablement besides Constraints: Human Security and a Cyber Multi-Disciplinary Framework in the European High North
• Balex Delta 2018
• FIRE-IN – Fire and Rescue Innovation Network

More information about the new Flagships will soon follow on the EUSBSR blog!

NC-group for more transparent communication

NC-group has decided in June 2017 to start publishing their meeting reports and other relevant document on the EUSBSR website to increase the transparency of the coordination of the EUSBSR. Also, a document establishing the Rules of Procedure has been adopted and it defines, among other things, the rotation of Chairmanship and the Annual Fora until 2025! 

See all the NC-group documents here.