In the second transnational workgroup discussed the participants about the Sustainability Of Cultural Heritage and National And European Identity.
The first part of the discussion focused on the question: “Which are the values that are the center of the European Identity from an intergenerational perspective”. 
We agreed that there are several core values that are in the heart of the European civilization: Greek culture, Roman law and Christianity. Also humanism, democracy and Universal Human Rights make up some of the most substantial parts of which we have all in common in our societies. However, in context of the globalization process, there is the risk of ignoring (and maybe even forgetting) by the young generations the rich cultural heritage that exists at local, regional and national level. And here is one of the most important roles that seniors have in the European society: to build a bridge between past, present and future, helping the youngsters (and also other groups of people i.e. immigrants) to get in contact with the aforementioned values and building identities. This role is of utmost importance especially in the Central and Eastern Europe where there are a lot of people who emigrate (and thus causing dangerous demographical phenomena especially in the rural areas). Our participants also agreed that a very important problem is the awareness of seniors concerning their European (and Danubian) identity: how can we build bridges between seniors scattered all over Europe and how can we create liaisons between cultures which are sometimes relatively different (i.e. Eastern Europe vs. Western Europe). In this respect we share the understanding that New Medias and Internet will have a major impact in constructing a cultural common ground for our seniors. We appreciate in this context, especially the importance of Danube Region as an intersection of populations, cultures and values that helps creating a regional and European identity, bringing people together. The Danube may be the perfect example of understanding this cooperation: we share similar traditions, customs, languages that are illustrating our belonging to a greater family.
In the second part of the discussion we analyzed the economical underpinnings of our societies and their respective influences on seniors and culture. It is obvious that the financial difficulties, low quality of life, being part of vulnerable groups (like the romani population or immigrants) can create big differences between European seniors. More, the growing proportion of seniors from the total population can create pressure on the current economical establishments (i.e. pension system). In our discussion we concentrated on how to transform these apparent obstacles, barriers in opportunities for further development. Our participants agreed that the seniors’ education can make the difference in this case but only in a European (cross-national and regional) cultural context and intergenerational setting, using New Medias. We must involve the seniors in the civil society making our voices heard by the leaders of our communities.
In the third part of the discussion we’ve tried to identify some concrete ideas for our transnational panel and especially for the European parliamentarians we’ll meet in Strasbourg, in the context of Danube Strategy: creating a system of mobilities for the seniors who are living in the Danube Region; creating transnational projects and competitions for the seniors from our region and also prizes (the Danube Poet, Composer, Musician, Writer, Actor, Scientist and so on); developing a great network of public and private institutions in the Danube Region with the aims of helping seniors involve more in their communities and creating joint transnational projects for seniors’ education (we need a substantial interaction in the virtual space as well i.e. website or social network for Danube seniors); regional and local initiatives for helping seniors cope with financial difficulties; involving universities in the process of seniors’ education; creating a Danube third age university (or maybe even a virtual third age university) to help seniors connect and share values; creating an educational strategy for the seniors from Danube region.
