​The Espacio Portalet EGTC results from a partnership between France and Spain, involving 1 949 485 inhabitants in a 55.364 km² area.

The EGTC was created to jointly manage and maintain the mountain passage of Portalet (road A136 in Spain and road D934 in France).

 

Tasks: The EGTC promotes public-private collaboration in the tourism sector through a strategy of sustainable development and improvement of the quality of life with increased security against natural risks on the cross-border road that passes through El Portalet.
In the framework of ETC, the EGTC acts as a link between public and private actors on both sides, fostering the promotion of projects and cooperation activities at local and regional levels in the fields of culture, tourism, infrastructure security and economic development.
In the remaining programming period, the EGTC will implement the INTURPYR and SECURUS projects within the Interreg VA POCTEFA programme. INTURPYR, which is led by the EGTC, is a tourist project to create a unique tourist destination in the central Pyrenees based on sustainable development, innovation and private public development. SECURUS, in which the EGTC is a partner, is a project to improve the management of natural risks based on innovation and cooperation between actors on both sides. The EGTC will also work on the dynamisation and management of different cultural, patrimonial and economic development actions between public and private actors from both sides.
In terms of joint management of public services, the EGTC is coordinating the different administrations, but to date it does not carry out concrete joint work. For now the EGTC does not develop joint strategies but its projects and specific actions go in the direction of economic development, social cohesion and sustainability.
During 2016, the EGTC continued with the maintenance of a residence for artists from both sides of the border in its second year.

Challenges or issues: Limited recognition of the EGTC as official representative of two countries in the European sector programmes. More concrete problems linked to the functioning of the EGTC are the different existing regulations, different ways of functioning of public institutions and the language barriers to effective communication between some actors.

Budget: € 886,241.93, coming from a proportional allocation of funds from the members as well EU-funding.

EU-funded projects and programmes in phase of imple-mentation in 2016
The EGTC was implementing 2 Interreg VA POCTEFA projects in 2016:
1) INTURPYR/EFA 026/15 – total project budget € 2,941,307; € 70,000 implemented by the EGTC (of which 65% is co-funded by the EU);
2) SECURUS/EFA 039/15 – total project budget € 4,220,626.80; € 50,000 implemented by the EGTC (of which 65% is co-funded by the EU).

Staff (in FTE):
1 EGTC Director, 1 tourism expert and employees from the two members.