The 11th EGTC Platform meeting took place in Innsbruck, Austria on 30 September and 1 October in cooperation with the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino and the Land of Tyrol. The meeting was opened by Günther Platter, Governor of Land Tirol, Arno Kompatscher, Governor of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/South Tyrol, Maurizio Fugatti, Governor of the Autonomous Province of Trento and Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the European Committee of the Regions.
Mathias Fink, Secretary General of the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino opened the second day of the meeting. After thanking all those who made the organisation of this event possible, he focused on the consequences of COVID at the border between Austria and Italy. The EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino celebrated its tenth birthday this year which acts on a daily basis to make life a little better for the people living at the border.
Pascal Boijmans, Head of Unit at DG REGIO in the European Commission then gave an overview of INTERREG for the next programing period. As the budget for the programme will be reduced to 8 billion euros, a stronger thematically and territorially focus will be needed, in line with the Commission's priorities. He presented the new architecture of the cohesion policy with its five policy objectives and introduced the two additional objectives dedicated to INTERREG: a better cooperation governance and a safer and more secure Europe. The stress will also be put on a better implementation of the partnership principle. EGTCs were several times mentioned as key to managing sub-programmes and bringing Europe closer to its citizens in a 'bottom-up approach', related to the 'B-solutions' project he presented.
Three recently founded EGTCs then shared their experience. Gerald Hartmann, Director of EGTC Geopark Karawanken at the border between Austria and Slovenia presented the objectives behind the creation of a UNESCO Global Geopark and the benefits it brings to the region. Delphine Mann, Director of EGTC Eurodistrict Region Freiburg – Centre et Sud Alsace between France and Germany explained how the 2019 Aachen Treaty gave the impulse for formalise the cooperation at the border and introduced the keyword for the progressive setting-up of the Eurodistrict: 'co-action' giving citizens the ability to initiate projects. Finally, Mathias Lindström, Director of EGTC Kvarken Council between Finland and Sweden, showed how a maritime border can also be a dynamic space of cooperation notably through the creation of the Joint Ferry Company Wasaline.
The EGTC Euregio Connect between Austria and Italy took the opportunity of the platform's meeting to officialise its creation. Sonja Ledl-Rossman, President of the Tyrolean Parliament and CoR alternate member, gave a few introductory words on how cycling can be a good starting point for countries to learn from another. Before signing the founding documents, Florian Phleps from Tirolwerbung GmbH in Innsbruck, Erwin Hinteregger from IDM Südtirol in Bozen-Bolzano and Maurizio Rossini from Trentino Marketing in Trento reminded of the importance of tourism and mobility in their cooperation on the Tour of the Alps.
The afternoon started with six EGTCs sharing some of their best practices. Ivan Curzolo, Director of EGTC GO between Italy and Slovenia, introduced the project Nova Gorica – Gorizia, the European Capital of Culture 2025 which aims at creating a whole dynamic around the label the city will acquire in 2025 by emphasizing the strength of culture in acting as a driver for cross-border territorial developments but also by looking beyond this date and promoting a sustainable project through a work on languages, on tourism, accessibility etc.
Christian Stampfer from INTERREG Regional Coordination Unit Tyrol in the Department for Territorial Development of Land Tirol presented the CLLD cross-border approach between Austria and Italy, meaning the 'Community Led Local Development'. This project managed to stimulate the implementation of 315 projects.
Arola Urdangarin Ferreira, Director of EGTC Euroregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra at the border between France and Spain talked about the role of the EGTC in managing the COVID-19 crisis. Not only were citizens informed of their rights and duties during this period but the EGTC also lobbied national institutions to obtain exemptions for cross-border workers.
Victoria Hansen, Project manager at EGTC Eurodistrict PAMINA presented the Project Passe-Partout – Weltenbummler. This online game for children to explore the cross-border region won the EGTC award of 2020.
Xavier Bernard Sans, Director of Euroregion Pyrenees Mediterranean that is located at the French-Spanish border, presented the Euroregional Covid Fund and more precisely the Psamides project which aims at facilitating the implementation of efficient, sustainable solutions in different MED ports through collaboration between clusters, companies, port authorities, and technological centers. Finally, Sandra Sodini, Director of EGTC Euregio Senza Confina talked about the collaboration between her EGTC and the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino at the borders between Austria, Italy and Slovenia in order to establish a multi-level platform and ensure a facilitated border-crossings.
Theses presentations were followed by a debate on the future of cross-border cooperation. Sonja Ledl-Rossmann, President of the Tyrolean Parliament and CoR alternate member was the first one to share her hope for the abolishing of numerous legal obstacles in the future. Pavel Branda, Rapporteur on the opinion on 'Cross Border Public Services', Chair of the CoR's Interregional group on cross-border cooperation and Vice-mayor of Radlo, then reminded that cross-border cooperation can only have a future with open borders and that, to that end, EGTCs as well as other structures such as the Euroregions have an important role to play. For Karl Heinz Lambertz, President of the Association of the European Border Regions and Member of the CoR, there is a need for more cooperation. It is important to build bridges between States but then it requires to work on eliminating physical barriers, creating capabilities and putting in place joint structures that would act as cross-border interlinked spaces.
At the end of the programme, Christof Kienel, Head of unit of the COTER Commission at the CoR went over the Platform's work programme for the next year. The day ended with closing words by Sophia Kircher, Vice President of the Tyrolean Parliament, who praised the diversity and success of all the examples of cooperation presented during the day.
