HDRI at the EU Macro-regional & Sea Basin Strategies Days 2026

We are glad to share that Gurgen Petrosyan, represented Human Development Research Initiative (HDRI) at the Macro-regional & Sea Basin Strategies Days 2026 in Brussels, held in cooperation with the Youth4Ocean Forum — a network HDRI is proud to be part of.

Co-organised by DG REGIO and DG MARE, the event brought together all eight EU macro-regional and sea basin strategies (Alpine, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian, Baltic Sea, Atlantic, Western Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Greater North Sea) to take stock of where cooperation stands and where it needs to go — particularly as discussions on post-2027 programming and the future Multiannual Financial Framework begin to take shape, against a backdrop of rising emphasis on security, resilience, and competitiveness across EU priorities.

HDRI's position:

As Europe redesigns its cohesion and funding architecture for the next period, we believe macro-regional and sea basin cooperation has to be measured not only by coordination, but by delivery for the people and territories it affects — and that includes young people, who are too often engaged as an afterthought rather than as partners in shaping these frameworks.

Through our membership in the Youth4Ocean Forum, HDRI advocates for:

🔹 Structured, funded pathways for youth participation in sea basin and marine governance — not one-off consultations

🔹 Greater visibility and accountability for how macro-regional strategies translate into concrete action for coastal communities

🔹 Embedding youth and civil society voices directly into post-2027 programming discussions, rather than consulting after the architecture is already fixed

🔹 Treating environmental and social sustainability as inseparable — climate pressures on sea basins are also intergenerational equity issues

The Strategies Days reaffirmed that macro-regional and sea basin cooperation is a mature system increasingly positioned to move from coordination to collective delivery. HDRI will keep engaging to ensure that shift genuinely includes the generation set to live with its outcomes.

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Thank you to DG REGIO, DG MARE, and the Youth4Ocean Forum for the opportunity to contribute to this dialogue.