Page 12 - Waste-to-Energy in the Danube Strategy Region. Challenges and Prospects

1.2 WtE & the DSR

The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region covers 14 countries, including 9 EU member

states, 3 accession countries, and 2 neighbourhood countries. The EU MS are Austria, Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The other five countries are

BiH, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine. The first three are accession countries, while all

five are members of the Energy Community and included in the Energy Union initiative. As part of
the Danube Strategy Region (DSR), these countries cooperate on 4 key pillar issues encompassing

12 priority areas. Of relevance to the topic of waste to energy, the DSR countries cooperate on

initiatives relating to sustainable energy and environmental protection.

The region is generally characterized by relatively high energy prices and reliance on
imports (Banja et al. 2014). Thus, energy security is of particular relevance to the region, especially

in terms of supply and affordability. On the other hand, the region boasts significant potential for

domestic alternative sources of energy, such as waste and biomass (Banja et al. 2014). Both

sources can help these countries to address supply security issues while also helping them to meet
renewable energy and efficiency targets. Thus the significance of the DSR region and of WtE within

this region is evident.

Project co-funded by the European Union
6