Abstract
The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) has become a central tool for (sub-) state authorities to organise territorial cooperation in the EU. To take stock of this rapid change, the present chapter suggests an analytical framework in two steps. Firstly, the EGTC instrument is symptomatic of a turn in how the European territorial cohesion policy relates to (sub-) state territorial cooperation (policy formulation). Before the publication of the EGTC regulation in 2006, the EU support for territorial cooperation was mainly financial (e.g. INTERREG) and regulatory (e.g. consolidation of the single market ). No specific legal framework was provided. The contribution investigates this progressive turn in the cohesion policy. Secondly, the EGTC represents a tool for implementing territorial cooperation (policy implementation). The number of EGTCs created over about a decade demonstrates that this instrument fills a gap in the legislative framework of territorial cooperation. Our comparative assessment of the use of the tool reveals a dominant implementation pattern. Most of the existing EGTCs are territorially bound organisations, set up on adjacent borders by local and regional authorities, a minority being interregional or transregional. Although they mostly have collective action resources and instruments and have identifiable objectives shared by their respective members, they follow a rather traditional pattern of cooperation where each individual member’s core activities primarily relate to a (sub-) state authority and where the EGTC acts primarily as an agent relying on its members.
The original version of this chapter was revised: Belated corrections have been incorporated. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_14
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31 October 2018
In the original version of the book, belated corrections from author for Chapters 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, frontmatter and cover have been incorporated. The erratum book has been updated with the changes.
Notes
- 1.
The term “territorial cooperation” refers to the cooperation between regional and local authorities from different states. It covers different types of cooperation, which according to the terminology used in the framework of EU cohesion policy, are grouped into cross-border cooperation (mainly sub-state collaboration between adjacent authorities), interregional cooperation (mainly sub-state collaboration between non-adjacent authorities) and transnational cooperation (sub-state and state collaboration of authorities on a larger geographical scale).
- 2.
European Council and European Parliament, “Regulation no. 1082/2006 on a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC),” Official Journal of the European Union L 210 (July 2006), p. 19. After an open consultation process conducted by the EU Commission (see EC, Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Brussels: SEC (2011) 981 final, COM (2011) 462 final), this regulation was amended by: European Council and European Parliament, “Regulation no. 1302/2013” Official Journal of the European Union L 347 (Dec. 2013), pp. 303–319.
- 3.
Examples of such reports are: Association of European Border Regions, Transeuropean Co-operation between Territorial Authorities. New Challenges and Future Steps Necessary to Improve Co-operation (2001); Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on “Strategies for Promoting Cross-border and Inter-regional Cooperation in an Enlarged EU—A Basic Document Setting out Guidelines for the Future,” Official Journal of the European Union C 192 (2002), 37; Association of European Border Regions, Towards a new Community Legal Instrument Facilitating Public Law-Based Transeuropean Co-operation among Territorial Authorities in the European Union (2004).
- 4.
Court of Auditors, Annual Report Concerning the Financial Year 1994 together with the Institutions’ Replies 1994, 4.61–4.72 and 4.89, Official Journal of the European Union C 303 (1995). Court of Auditors, Special Report No. 4/2004 on the Programming of the Community Initiative Concerning Trans-European Cooperation—INTERREG III, together with the Commission’s Replies, Official Journal of the European Union C 303 (2004), 18, para. 98(i).
- 5.
European Commission, Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion, Brussels, 31 January 2001. COM (2001) 24 final. Communication from the Commission of 25 July 2001 “European governance—A White Paper” COM (2001) 428 final, Official Journal of the European Union C 287 (2001). European Commission, Third Report on Economic and Social Cohesion (2004), available at http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/cohesion3/cohesion3_en.htm,xxxi.
- 6.
Committee of the Regions, Conclusions of the Committee of the Regions about the Joint Consultation, 2010, available at https://portal.cor.europa.eu/.
- 7.
Territorial Agenda of the European Union, Towards a More Competitive and Sustainable Europe of Diverse Regions, agreed on the occasion of the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Urban Development and Territorial Cohesion in Leipzig on 24–25 May 2007, available at http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/policy/what/territorial-cohesion/territorial_agenda_leipzig2007.pdf.
- 8.
Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Official Journal of the European Union C 83 (March 2010).
- 9.
See Chap. 3 of this volume.
- 10.
Data provided in this section result from the authors’ own calculation. The data used stem mainly from the EGTC annual monitoring report commissioned by the Committee of the Regions to Zillmer et al. (CoR 2017). It is publicly available at cor.europa.eu. Where needed, further information has been compiled by the authors, with the support of Theresa Sauerwein (University of Luxembourg). Approximations and errors remain the authors’.
- 11.
See for example the study of the Commission on cross-border obstacles, launched in 2015, as one of the pillars of the cross-border review, available at http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/publications/studies/2017/easing-legal-and-administrative-obstacles-in-eu-border-regions; and the Opinion of the Committee of the Regions Opinion on Strengthening cross-border cooperation: the need for a better regulatory framework, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52015IR4286&from=EN.
- 12.
To promote and discuss the proposal, a special working group was established which is intended to identify innovative solutions to cross-border obstacles, see http://www.espaces-transfrontaliers.org/en/european-activities/working-group-on-innovative-solutions-to-cross-border-obstacles/.
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Evrard, E., Engl, A. (2018). Taking Stock of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC): From Policy Formulation to Policy Implementation. In: Medeiros, E. (eds) European Territorial Cooperation. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74887-0_11
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