Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation: New impetus for territorial cooperation in Europe
Date: 2008-06-18
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU body for police and judicial cooperation, European integration, cross-border cooperation, economic and social cohesion, interinstitutional cooperation (EU)

9.10.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 257/15

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation: New
impetus for territorial cooperation in Europe

(2008/C 257/03)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— stresses the need for rapid and consistent application of the regulation throughout EU territory, in

keeping with the European spirit of the new instrument;

— underlines that by giving forms of territorial cooperation between institutional actors at different
levels from two or more Member States a Community legal structure, the EGTC can trigger a process
of horizontal European integration in which the principles of subsidiarity and proximity are applied;

— emphasises that the possibility of involving different institutional levels in a single cooperative struc-
ture opens up the prospect of new forms of multilevel governance, enabling European regional and
local authorities to become driving forces in drawing up and implementing EU policy, helping to
make European governance more open, participatory, democratic, accountable and transparent;

— states its intention to play a key information and promotion role with regard to the EGTC instrument,
by means of political mobilisation, communication initiatives, establishing networks to pool experi-
ence and best practices, and research activity;

— calls on the Commission to launch a strategic debate on the EGTC in the forthcoming Green Paper on

European territorial cohesion.

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Official Journal of the European Union

9.10.2008

Rapporteur: Mercedes BRESSO (IT/PES), President of the Piedmont Region

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

in achieving a highly competitive social market economy,
aiming at
full employment, social progress and sustainable
development;

Challenges facing the continent and the need for European
integration

argues that territorial cohesion can simultaneously boost
7.
competitiveness and sustainability in Europe's
in
keeping with the objectives of the new Lisbon Strategy updated
by the Member States in 2008;

regions,

warmly welcomes the adoption of the Regulation on a
1.
European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC);
this
constitutes an effective response to the basic need to step up the
European integration process while respecting regional diversity
by adjusting current models of governance to the challenges
that the European Union must face;

considers that territorial cooperation and first of all cross-
8.
border cooperation, is a key element for European integration
and a political priority of the EU and recalls the special impor-
tance that territorial cooperation has in the case of outermost
regions, islands and mountains;

2.
notes that the European Union is confronted with changes
that are crucial to its future: obvious examples include the new
Treaty of Lisbon signed on 13 December 2007, the recent enlar-
gement of the Schengen area to nine new countries, the adop-
tion of the euro by Cyprus and Malta at the beginning of 2008,
and the current budget review;

3.
is in principle pleased that the new Lisbon Treaty places
territorial cohesion among the EU's objectives in Article 3 of
the Treaty on European Union and states that particular atten-
tion shall be paid to cross-border
this is a clear
acknowledgement that the harmonious and balanced develop-
ment of a polycentric European territory must be promoted
when EU policies are being drafted; calls on the Commission to
table a proposal on the measures and activities at European
level which could in the future be included under that objective;

regions;

recognises that the future of the European Union and its
4.
territories depends on achieving more powerful
synergies
between cohesion policies and strategies to promote competi-
tiveness, and on developing sectoral policies that help, especially
where the least-favoured territories are concerned, to address the
challenges set by globalisation, by means of a cross-border,
transnational and interregional approach; notes that cross-
border, transnational and interregional cooperation has already
brought and continues to create added value: European, poli-
tical, institutional, economic and socio-cultural added value;

recalls that territorial cohesion lies at the heart of the
5.
European Union's Territorial Agenda. This illustrates the need
for the territorial dimension to play a more decisive role in the
future of EU cohesion and other Community policies;

9.
calls on the Commission to launch a strategic debate on
the EGTC in the forthcoming Green Paper on European terri-
torial cohesion;

The political and strategic value of the EGTC

supports territorial cooperation as a key instrument of
10.
cohesion policy for resolving issues with a significant territorial
dimension in economically, socially, culturally and environmen-
tally crucial sectors;

11.
emphasises that territorial cooperation provides an effec-
tive response to the need for funds in the 2007-2013 program-
ming period to be allocated in a more geographically balanced
way;

welcomes the fact

12.
the 2007-2013 programming
period provides for a significant increase in territorial coopera-
tion within cohesion policy, by:

that

— mainstreaming the Interreg Community initiative as a first-
rank political objective (Objective 3) of EU cohesion policy,

— stronger orientation of territorial cooperation initiatives to

achieving the Lisbon and Göteborg objectives,

— consolidating territorial cooperation and cross-linkage with
other EU thematic policies under the Regions for economic
change initiative,

6.
considers that territorial cohesion is an essential factor in
achieving the objectives of economic growth and solidarity, and

— enhancing cooperation structures, operational arrangements
in part by means of EU27

and capitalisation processes,
network programmes (Urbact, Interact, Espon),

9.10.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 257/17

13.
views Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 on a European
grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC) as an important legal
instrument
to strengthen cooperation between regional and
local authorities in Europe through uniform Community rules
directly applicable in all Member States;

21.
believes that the EGTC could be a new opportunity to
provide legal structure for Euroregions and develop this concept
in a consistent way. In the past, Euroregion cooperation initia-
tives have made a decisive contribution to enhancing real coop-
eration in a broad spectrum of activities, neighbourhood rela-
tions, bringing peoples closer together, knowledge transfer and
the exchange of good practices;

14.
considers that its foreseeable potential will also increase
as a result of having a direct link with the acquis communautaire,
which gives it greater force and makes it more likely to become
incorporated into law; this link also makes it more far-reaching
and dynamic than traditional cooperation instruments;

points out that the previous legal framework — which

15.
the regulation does not abolish — often produced uncertainty;

welcomes the fact that the Regulation on an EGTC has
16.
incorporated many of
the developments introduced by the
Council of Europe acquis regarding territorial cooperation.
Indeed, the right of local and regional authorities to cooperate
across national borders was first recognised by the Council of
Europe, with the 1980 European Framework Convention on
Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or
Authorities and its 1995 and 1998 Additional Protocols;

17.
notes that the EGTC is an instrument introducing a Euro-
pean structure for cooperation, the purpose of which is to
and administrative problems
enable
connected with implementing and running cross-border, trans-
national and interregional programmes and projects as well as
territorial cooperation in general to be successfully tackled;

traditional

legal

the

18.
emphasises that the EGTC helps to bring stability and
certainty to territorial cooperation, by setting up cooperative
groups possessing legal personality as well as
the means
required to carry out projects and actions, with or without a
financial contribution from the Community;

19.
stresses that the EGTC can provide an efficient coordina-
tion and implementation platform for European, national and
regional policies in a wide range of crucial areas such as infra-
structure, company competitiveness, research and innovation,
training, environmental protection and risk prevention, energy
and transport networks, health and social issues, and sustainable
and polycentric urban development;

stresses that

22.
the EGTC Regulation does not seek to
suppress existing Euroregions in operation or constitute an addi-
tional administrative structure but to provide a credible option
for trans-European territorial cooperation;

that

stresses

the EGTC provides a strong tool

for
23.
pursuing decentralised cooperation throughout
the European
Union in a number of policy fields on the basis of stable struc-
tures capable to mobilise the involvement of citizens and take
joint decisions that will be fully implemented and even lead to
long term strategic cooperation;

24.
suggests that the EGTC can and should be a primary
working instrument, improving access to the credit market in
order to finance infrastructure or services of common interest
across different areas of the EU; this will in turn generate the
revenue needed to secure the financial health of these measures;

25.
emphasises that one measure to be implemented at the
Community level would be to encourage the use of the EGTC as
the preferred instrument
for cooperation, due both to the
substantial benefits resulting from the simplified management of
cooperation policies, plans and projects and to a more wide-
spread use of better administrative practices across the EU;

26.
feels that the adoption of the EGTC instrument could
ensure that existing cooperation structures both operate in a
more coherent and effective manner, as part of an approach to
rationalise funds rather than spread them too thinly, and also
produce better quality results;

27.
stresses that the EGTC will help considerably to make
resource distribution and management more effective by invol-
ving regional and local authorities and regional economic and
social stakeholders more closely;

20.
recalls that European programmes such as Interreg have
prompted the creation of numerous structures, understandings
and agreements intended to flesh out forms of cross-border and
interregional cooperation between territorial authorities in areas
of common interest;

28.
underlines that by giving forms of territorial cooperation
between institutional actors at different levels from two or more
Member States a Community legal structure, the EGTC can
trigger a process of horizontal European integration in which
the principles of subsidiarity and proximity are applied;

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Official Journal of the European Union

9.10.2008

29.
argues that the EGTC will enable European regional and
local authorities to become driving forces in drawing up and
implementing EU policy, helping to make European governance
more open, participatory, democratic, accountable and trans-
parent;

38.
therefore believes cooperation and exchange of informa-
tion between Member States, together with direct involvement
of regional and local authorities, to be essential;

emphasises that

the possibility of

involving different
30.
institutional levels in a single cooperative structure opens up the
prospect of new forms of multilevel governance in which stake-
holders would contribute, each according to their own remit, to
the overall success of the undertaking;

A commitment to applying the regulation in keeping with
the Community spirit

underlines that

the choice of a regulation guarantees
31.
uniform rules for territorial cooperation in all
the Member
States, minimising the disparities caused by regulatory fragmen-
tation; it would be the first time that a common instrument of
such a wide geographic scope is introduced;

considers that

the implementation of

32.
the regulation
should be properly coordinated, so that the various legal acts
drawn up by the Member States in order to apply Regulation
(EC) 1082/2006 can be brought together without creating any
incompatibility or obstacles;

33.
highlights the need for rapid and consistent application
of the regulation throughout EU territory, in keeping with the
European spirit of the new instrument;

34.
notes, in line with the procedures referred to in the intro-
duction to the Regulation on an EGTC, the importance of invol-
ving henceforth third countries in the implementation of the
new Community instrument, in the most appropriate ways;

35.
takes note of the fact that some Member States have
already adopted the regulation's implementing provisions, but
reserves the right to analyse these measures carefully in order to
gauge how far they comply with the objectives of achieving
uniform rules and promotion of territorial cooperation;

36.
regrets that most Member States have not yet taken steps
to adopt the regulation's implementing provisions and urges the
relevant authorities to do so without further delay and without
placing barriers and red tape in the way of setting up EGTCs
and making them fully functional;

39.
recalls that with the Regulation on an EGTC, Community
law is ushering in a new category of legal person that, in spite
of the significant references to national law, must be treated in a
substantially uniform way in the different Member States,
in
compliance with the principles of direct applicability and direct
effect;

40.
points out that Article 2 of the regulation sets forth a
precise hierarchy to the effect that both Community law and the
provisions laid down in the conventions and statutes of new
EGTCs take precedence over the law of the Member State in
which the EGTC is established, the latter applying solely in areas
which are not or only partially covered by the regulation;

41.
stresses that the provisions of the regulation which do
not refer to national law apply directly whenever an EGTC is set
up;

42.
considers that the regulation confers a fully-fledged right
upon the potential EGTC members situated in the territory of at
least two Member States, that may be exercised immediately in
order to set up an EGTC in compliance with the provisions of
the regulation;

43.
recalls that non-fulfilment by the Member States of their
obligation to adopt the relevant implementing proposals inhibits
the potential of the EGTC concept, and therefore calls on the
European Commission to urge Member States to fulfil their
pledged obligations in this matter;

44.
is convinced that the European Commission can contri-
bute decisively to making the EGTC fully operational, in accord-
ance with the true spirit of the regulation;

45.
the
calls upon the European Commission to press
Member States to adopt the necessary implementing measures,
at the same time providing proper support to the competent
national authorities by adopting guidelines, criteria for interpre-
tation and technical details. To this end, the Commission could
make use of the work carried out by the EGTC Expert Group
set up by the Committee of the Regions;

37.
points out that the EGTC was intended, not least, to
simplify the procedures for running and implementing territorial
cooperation initiatives, and therefore requires extensive coopera-
tion within each Member State between the various national,
regional and local authorities insofar as each is concerned;

urges that,

46.
in the event that cases of non-compliance
should continue, the Commission consider the possibility of
activating the necessary infringement procedures against any
Member States that have not, without reason, fulfilled their obli-
gations to adopt the implementing measures required under the
regulation;

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 257/19

Promoting use of the EGTC

47.
feels that specific Community information and training
measures and any other appropriate measures, including legal,
economic and financial incentives, can be used to promote the
European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation;

48.
in this regard, considers that basic economic-financial
incentives can be broken down into two broad groups. It thus
suggests that the first would require a specific programme with
Community funding, allocated from the ERDF, which would
contribute to the creation of new EGTCs or the conversion of
prospective cooperation projects managed using conventional
formats;

tender

considers that the second group of economic-financial
49.
incentives would require calls for
launched by the
Commission to award a comparative advantage in the evalua-
tion of projects to those projects including the setting-up of an
EGTC and a forecast of sustainability when the project itself is
concluded. This would help to promote an institutional short-
and medium-term culture of cooperation which would seek new
sources of funding in addition to the Community budget;

50.
with regard to the legal measures that should be under-
taken to help make the institution a success throughout the EU,
the main responsibility should belong to the Commission, with
the technical support of the Committee of the Regions;

that

proposes

51.
the Commission step up information
measures within its directorates-general in order to raise aware-
ness of the EGTC's contribution to implementing EU sectoral
policy;

states its willingness to work together with institutional

52.
stakeholders in the above-mentioned promotion measures;

— territorial cooperation, and the EGTC in particular, appear
among the main priorities of the Committee of the Regions'
current political mandate and the new cooperation protocol
with the Commission,

— Article 5 of the regulation specifies that EGTC members are
obliged to inform the Committee of the Regions of future
conventions and the registration and/or publication of the
statutes; this opens the way for a ‘European register’ of
the Regions, as
EGTCs to be held at the Committee of
originally
in its
2004 opinion on the proposal for a regulation (CdR 62/
2004),

the Committee

requested by

itself

54.
states its intention to play a key information and promo-
tion role with regard to the EGTC instrument by means of poli-
tical mobilisation,
establishing
networks to pool experience and best practices, and research
activity;

communication initiatives,

emphasises that an EGTC Expert Group has been set up
55.
with the task of monitoring the adoption of national
imple-
menting provisions and of fostering the pooling of experience
on setting up and operating EGTCs at territorial level;

56.
undertakes to highlight the opportunities provided by
the legislation of both Member States and non-EU neighbouring
countries,
in order to maximise the chances of cooperation
between the territorial authorities of the European Union and
those of third countries;

will intensify its cooperation with pan- European regional
57.
Organisation with specific and long experience in the field, of
trans-European territorial cooperation;

The role of the Committee of the Regions

53.
points out that it has specific consultative powers in the
area of cross-border cooperation, under the terms of Article 265
of the EC Treaty:

invol-
stresses that close interinstitutional cooperation,
58.
ving the European institutions, national governments and
regional and local authorities, is a prerequisite for the success of
the EGTC and territorial cooperation.

Brussels, 18 June 2008.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Luc VAN DEN BRANDE