Committee of the Regions publishes the conclusions of the EGTC consultation

03.11.2010 – The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) is an EU tool facilitating interregional cooperation. Its governing rules will be revised next year. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) will present proposals for simplification in an own-initiative opinion, based on a Europe-wide survey whose results were presented at the OPEN DAYS in October.

Developing cross-border projects at the regional and local levels used to be a difficult process, as they often involved the negotiation of state treaties by national governments. Following a CoR initiative, in 2006 the EU created a purpose-built tool for territorial cooperation: The so-called 'European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation', or EGTC. Regions and cities wishing to develop joint projects can now set up such EGTCs without major approval procedures by national capitals. For instance, the new cooperation model paved the way for Europe's first jointly managed hospital on the Franco-Spanish border in the Pyrenees.

The EGTC regulation will be revised in 2011. The CoR will present proposals for further simplification in an own-initiative opinion prepared by Alberto Núñez Feijóo (ES/EPP), President of the Autonomous Community of Galicia. To feed local know-how into this work, the CoR and its EU partners asked regions and cities to share their EGTC experiences and concerns in a Europe-wide survey. Its results were presented at the OPEN DAYS, the European week of regions and cities, in early October.

More than 90 stakeholders responded to the survey. The vast majority of respondents rely on the added value of the EGTC to provide better services and bring Europe closer to the citizens. EGTCs embody the principle of subsidiarity, help to build Europe from the bottom up, and ensure continuity and visibility for projects. However, many respondents consider that the regulation needs to be changed, in order to make it easier to set up and operate EGTCs. A major legal issue is the diverging transposition of the EGTC statute into national law. As member states interpret the EGTC concept differently, existing EGTCs have been accorded a different legal status. Difficulties have also been reported with defining the content of EGTC conventions and statutes, as well as their approval procedures. The survey respondents stressed that information, communication and technical assistance from the EU level is indispensable, and welcomed the CoR efforts in this area. Most respondents also pointed out that EGTCs need to hire their own staff, leading to uncertainties over the applicable law for such contracts.

The CoR opinion will take up these local and regional concerns and ensure a strong message to the European Commission, in order to adapt the regulation to local and regional needs.