​On 8 October 2018 the 8th Annual meeting of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Platform was held in the European Committee of the Regions to discuss the ongoing work of the EGTCs, the implementation of the EGTC regulation and their vision on the future of the European Union. The event was closed with the 2018 EGTC Award Ceremony.

Chairing the meeting Mr. Pavel Branda said "This is a crucial time for EGTCs and also for European Territorial Cooperation. A lot has been done by the European Commission in the evaluation of the EGTC regulation and with an increased number of EGTCs it is getting more and more extensive". The European Commission pointed out that more effort was required for implementation and that there were untapped opportunities within the current framework of the revised EGTC Regulation No 1302/2013 through improved co-ordination, standardizing procedures, and better communication of EGTC instruments in the context of EU funds . The European Cross Border Mechanism was outlined as a complementary tool for EGTCs and Member States to resolve legal and administrative barriers in issues of cross-border cooperation. Mr. Dirk Peters echoed the report saying "even if only 20% of the existing obstacles were removed, border regions would increase their GDP by 2%".

A discussion around the conclusions of the Athens conference on the Future of Europe with the vision of EGTCs focused on questions on the inclusion of a section of the charter and also support and proposed amendments on issues of political commitment and the added value of EGTCs. As with the publication of the EGTC Good Practice Booklet distributed at the meeting it was reiterated that EGTCs have the opportunity to showcase their activities in future events. In the suggestions put forward by EGTCs for the 2019 Work Programme it was proposed to have the venue for next year's Annual meeting in the Balearic Islands.

EGTC Platform Coordinator and President of Committee of the Regions COTER Commission Mr. Petr Osvald closed the meeting with the 2018 EGTC Award Ceremony giving special mentions to the efforts of EGTC Euroregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Basque-Navarre and the ESPON EGTC. The first prize award was granted to EGTC TATRY, as lead partner in the sustainable tourism project "Cycling route around the Tatra Mountains" acting closely with its participant Polish and Slovak local authorities in each stage of its creation and operation.