​Representatives of National and Regional EGTC Authorising Authorities gathered together on the 18th September at an event in the premises of the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels which was attended by around 40 members of audience including EGTC representatives to discuss the ongoing work and issues affecting EGTC's and Authorising Authorities.

The chair of the CoR's COTER commission Mr. Petr Osvald thanked the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for co-organising the event with the CoR and for having taken the lead on organizing these meetings in the past. Mr Osvald also stressed the important role of EGTCs "With more than ten years of implementation experience, the EGTC Regulation has proven to be an excellent and a practical tool for Local Regional Authorities to implement cross-border, interregional and transnational projects, long term strategies and to bring together European citizens across borders and beyond.". He welcomed the open discussion on the problems affecting members such as funding and complex legalities and called upon the European Union institutions, notably the European Commission, to engage in greater promotion of the tool and remove any remaining obstacles to EGTC innovation.

 Ms. Elina Hakonen-Meddings (Deputy Head of Unit Macro-Regions, Transnational/Interregional Cooperation, IPA, Enlargement in DG Regio, European Commission) commented on the results of the Commission's report published 17/08/2018 reviewing the amended EGTC regulations acknowledging that further amendments may be required to maintain EGTC stability and supported Mr Osvald’s call for more promotion of the EGTC tool at the local level.

Mr. Péter Kiss-Parciu (Deputy State Secretary for Cross-Border Economic Cooperation, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) confirmed the importance in the regular continuity of these meetings in formulating future strategies for the 37% of EU citizens living in border areas and believed the challenge to "remove legal/administrative obstacles are just as important as regional investment and facilitating co-operation between authorities makes regions more competitive and fosters growth."

The latest developments and issues in registering EGTC's were examined in the results of the 2017 annual EGTC monitoring report and presentations of good practice were received from representatives of three EGTC's (Ister-Granum, Tisza, and Eurorégion Pyrénées–Méditerannée) noting some successes in securing funding, and legal certainty in a non-Member State (Ukraine) whilst looking at issues and possible solutions.

A Roundtable discussion between Mr. Dirk Peters (Senior Expert, DG REGIO, European Commission) and various EGTC National Regional Authorising Authorities focused upon the diverse problems and issues of liability, small project funds, non-Member State integration, communication and information dissemination. Within the context of the newly published Commission report Mr. Peters pointed out that considerations to further amend regulations could be examined and discussed in the institutions.

Closing the event Ambassador Olivér Várhelyi (Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union) formally presented the Palfí István Award to Mr. Dirk Peter's for his contributions to the development of European territorial co-operation and EGTC's, and to Mr. Imre Csalagovits, Head of Department in the Hungarian Ministry of Finance, responsible for executing the Danube Transnational Program.