The EGTCs: State of

play and outlook

Assembly of the EGTC

Euroregion Wthout Borders

Poreč / Poranzo, Istria, Croatia

9 April 2014

Alfonso Alcolea Committee of the Regions of the EU

“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan.It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a defacto solidarity”.

Declaration Schuman – 9 May 1950

Happy Day of Europe!

Europe without borders?

Situation of the borderbetween Italy and Slovenia in Gorizia, till 2004

Europe without borders?

Polish-German borderbetween Frankfurt am Oder and Słubice

Europe without borders?

Former checkpoint dismantledbetween Frankfurt am Oder and Słubice© A. Alcolea, 2008

Europe without borders?

GDP per head poorestregion: +/- 6.200 €

GDP per head richestregion: +/- 68.000 €

Europe without borders?

Disparities

European Commission

8th Cohesion Report

Europe without borders?

Impact of the crisis (2010)

Growth of GDP in real terms. Negative in regions in orange or in red

8th cohesion report. EC

Europe without borders?

The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation

EGTC – European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation

At the beginning, an idea of the Committee of the Regions

Created by Regulation (EC) 1082/2006 amended by

Regulation (EU) 1302/2013

Public entities from different Member States can get together

under an entity with European legal personality.

The EGTC has its own organisation, budget and staff.

It may implement programmes and projects of territorial

cooperation, with or without EU funding.

Entered into force on 1 August 2007, the Member States adopt

national provisions. The amended Regulation will enter into

force on 22 June 2014

What is an EGTC?

Missions

Art. 1 (2) “To facilitate and promote cross-border,transnational and/or interregional cooperation between itsmembers with the aim of strengthening economic and socialcohesion”.

Art 7 (3) Tasks of the EGTC:

Implement ETC programmes co-financed by ERDF, ESFor Cohesion Fund

Implement ETC projects […] Other specific cooperation actions with EU funding Other cooperation actions without EU funding

Limits: Powers of the State such as police, regulation, justiceor foreign affairs.

What for?

Who can be a member?

Basically, entities of Public Law (reference to the Directive

2004/18/EC on public procurement) and associations

Participation of entities from third countries:

2 EU Member States needed (minimum 2 EU + 1 non EU)

The third country adopts similar legislation or signs an

agreement with the country of seat of the EGTC

The EU Member States involved authorize it

Who can participate?

Which decisions correspond to the State?

Define the EGTC as entity of public or private Law

Define the applicable Law The seat determines the applicable Law

BUT the Convention can foresee exceptions: staff –

procurement - audit - others

Authorize the convention and the statutes The Convention has primacy over the national legislation

3 months; 6 months under new Regulation, but tacit approval

Authorize the EGTCs with non-EU countries

Register and publication at national level and at EU level

Decision and validation of the financial control

Recognition of the EGTCs based in other countries

Inclusion of the EGTC in the operational programmes

How to set up an EGTC

Trends and developments

Figures

46 EGTC set up,

according to the

Register of the CoR

More than 600

LRA involved

A reality in 19

Member States

Impact on the life

of 30 Mo

Europeans

EGTC trends and developments

National implementation varies, but also national approaches

Only one EGTC implements programmes: ‘Greater Region’

The use of structural funds is not the main object of activity

Although ‘laboratory for multi-level governance’, most of the

EGTC group only regions or only municipalities

Main focus on cross-border cooperation

Main areas: Axis Benelux-FR-DE, around HU and Mediterranean

Precedent cooperation started in the 90s.

Need of awareness among LRA, public and EC services

EGTC trends and developments

Grande Région

First EGTC to become management authority of a programme

Involves FR, DE, LU, NL, BE

www.interreg4a-gr.eu

Examples of EGTC

Archimed

Cooperation structure among Mediterranean islands

Joint defence of common

interests

Examples of EGTC

Cerdanya cross-border hospital

Service to 60,000 inhabitants in the Pyrenees

www.hcerdanya.eu

Examples of EGTC

Duero-Douro

Rural development: 187 municipalities with an average

population of <500 inhabitants

Projects: Econometric model for investments

Goat livestock to prevent forest fires and create jobs

Culture, education

‘Vital tourism’: Turn the border area into a touristic

destination of excellence

www.duero-douro.com

Examples of EGTC

Euroregion Pyrinees Mediterranean

Euroregional development in one of the economic

poles of Europe

Project CreaMed: creating networks between the

business incubators www.eurocreamed.eu

Winner of the EGTC AWARD 2014

www.euroregio.eu

Examples of EGTC

EGTC Euro-GO

Cities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempeter-

Vrtojba.

Consolidate a cooperation dating from 1964

The EGTC is needed to overcome the recession

in the territory

Fields: Hospitals, traffic, energy, environment,

transport, etc.

www.euro-go.eu

Examples of EGTC

Euregio Tirol – Suedtirol – TrentinoEuroregione Tirolo – Alto Adige – Trentino

Euroregional development in the Alpine region

Very strong and integrated cooperation in many

fields

Honourable mention of the EGTC AWARD 2014

www.europaregion.info

Examples of EGTC

Lessons: The factors of the EGTCs

Tru

st

Negotiation

Choice

Vision

The revised EGTC Regulation

CoR Opinions of Bresso (2008),

Núñez Feijóo (2011), Delebarre (2012),

Bureau decision 2012

‘Preferential instrument for cooperation’

Remove bureaucratic obstacles

Not only regional policy Strategy

Europe 2020, mainstream all EU policies

Awareness iat all levels

External dimension Non-EU countries

Participation of the civil society

CoR opinions

New elements - legal

The revised EGTC Regulation

The Regulation (EU) 1302/2013 was adopted on 17 December

2013, amending the Regulation of 2006:

The convention becomes the main document for an EGTC and

may establish specific rules governing e.g.:

Staff

Procurement

Taxation

Audit and financial control

Other aspects:

Tacit approval of new EGTCs after six months

Entities from non-EU Member States and non-profit

private entities providing public services can be EGTC

members

Three joint statements

The revised EGTC Regulation

The final version of the EGTC regulation contains several statements agreed between the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council:

I.The Institutions intend “to improve the visibility of the possibilities

to use EGTCs as an optional instrument for territorial

cooperation available in all EU policy areas”.

II.The institutions engage themselves to undertake “actions of

coordination and communication among national authorities and

between authorities of different Member States in order to ensure

clear, efficient and transparent procedures of authorization of

new EGTCs”.

III.The Member States will endeavour to apply the rules of the

Regulation on law applicable to contractual obligations for the staff

hired under private law and the principle of territoriality for staff

hired under public law.

New elements – Operational

EGTCs can be:

managing authorities of programmes or their beneficiaries

Intermediate authorities of Integrated Territorial Investments

Implementing bodies of Joint Action Plans and of CLLD

Operational Programmes can contain provisions on cross-border

cooperation, transnational and interregional actions (Art. 96.3 (d) CPR).

Specific instruments in which the EGTCs are interested:

Joint Action Plan (JAP): 10 EGTCs

Community-Led Local Development (CLLD): 9 EGTCs

Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI): 15 EGTCs

The revised EGTC Regulation

Euroregion Senza Confini / Ohne Grenzen, at the heart of two macroregions

Macro-regional strategies are integrated frameworks that address common

challenges faced by a defined geographical area (no extra budget,

institutions or regulations)

Adriatic-Ionian macroregion EC communication under preparation;

CoR opinion (SPACCA) to be adopted in June 2014

Alpine macroregion EC communication foreseen for 2015; CoR opinion

(VAN STAA) under preparation

Which role for the EGTCs in the macroregional strategies?

The EGTC structure the macroregions

Implementation of priority actions

Joint voice of the territories involved

Macro-regional strategies

How will the revised EGTC Regulation be implemented?

What will the future EGTC conventions look like? Are the Member

States ready to approve EGTCs whose conventions override national law?

How will the Member States apply the rules of the EGTC Regulation to

staff?

How will the EGTCs participate in JAP, ITI, CLLD and other

instruments?

What is the involvement of EGTCs in the programming process of the

Operational Programmes?

What will be the role of the EGTCs in the macroregions?

Open questions

The role of the Committee of the Regions

Platform of EGTC since 2011, grouping

all players in EGTC and cross-border

• Monitoring

• Assistance and support

• Political input

European register of EGTC in the CoR

Face-to-face communication:

• Annual meeting 18/02/2014

• Open Days 8/10/2014

• Thematic portal

• www.cor.europa.eu/egtc

• Social networks

The EGTC Platform

The award ‘Building Europe across Borders’

Bi-annual EGTC award of the CoR

Focus on implemented actions related to

growth and jobs

Awardee: Pyrenees Mediterranean

Honourable mentions to ‘Gate to Europe’

and ‘Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino’

Participation in Operational Programmes

The challenge of implementation

Border regions and EGTCs

need to be consulted in the

programming as part of a

structured dialogue (cf. Art.

5 Code of Conduct)

The national authorities

should consider the specific

needs of border areas and

the potential of the EGTCs

for the ETC

CoR-AEBR Seminar “The participation of citizens from border

regions in the Operational Programmes – The Case of the

EGTC”, Brussels, 19/11/2013:

EGTC monitoring report 2013

The challenge of implementation

Question: Are the EGTCs involved in the programming process ?

EGTC Monitoring Report 2013 “Towards the

New Cohesion Policy”:

10 EGTCs have elaborated a position paper or

key study that was presented to the

Programming Group

5 EGTCs are represented in the

Programming Group (risk of conflict of

interests due to the later role of EGTC as

beneficiaries)

4 EGTCs intend to take over a function in

management and implementation of

programmes (Grande Région, Euroregione

Senza Confini, EUKN, ESPON)

“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan.It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a defacto solidarity”.

Declaration Schuman – 9 May 1950

… Last reminder

Vielen Dank! Grazie! Hvala!

Committee of the Regions

Direction of horizontal policies and networks

Alfonso Alcolea Martínez

Administrator EGTC & territorial cooperation

www.cor.europa.eu/egtc

egtc@cor.europa.eu

Twitter: @EGTCPlatform

FB group: EGTC