Updated: 17/09/2015

The Commission COTER appointed Nicola Dobroslavić (HR/EPP), Prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, as rapporteur general on "Strengthening Cross-border Cooperation: the need for a better regulatory framework? "

The CoR works on this opinion by request of the Luxembourg rotating Presidency of the Council, which has included cross-border cooperation among its top priorities.

The Presidency has proposed a new Regulation on "European Cross-border Convention on Specific Provisions in Cross-border Regions or ECBC". This Regulation would enable border regions and cities to identify specific areas of cooperation in which specific cross-border provisions can be necessary.

"For example, a tramway network in a border area: when extending a tramway line across the border from country A into country B, the standards applying the extension should be the ones of the country B", explain the officials of the Luxembourg Presidency, "Thus, affected local authorities should be able to propose to their national authorities legal or regulatory solutions to manage a cross-border project". For the Presidency, this tool would complement the EGTC and learn from the experience gained by the EGTC.

Mr Dobroslavić welcomed this proposal: "It provides a valuable input for the future and can improve the quality of the cross-border cooperation", he said. "The advantage is that it is a tool of a general character that does not create a new entity with legal personality".

Mr Dobroslavić also called for a more extended use and implementation of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).

The opinion follows the procedure established in Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure of the CoR: there will be a debate in the COTER meeting of 2 October and the draft will be submitted directly to the plenary of 13 and 14 October due to the deadline required by the Presidency of the Council.

The deadline for amendments is on 25 September at 15:00 Brussels time.