On 29th July 2011 the European Commission presented the long awaited Report about the application of the Regulation (EC) 1082/2006 on European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation. The Report proposes a series of amendments and clarifications to the EGTC Regulation, but also identifies many improvements that could be implemented in other EU policies and actions, as well as information procedures.
According to Mr Dirk Ahner, Director General of Regional Policy, the Report “reviews the progress of the EGTC instrument and identifies specific features that could lead to easier and more widespread use”. Although lacking specific proposals, the Report will serve as a basis for the future Amending Regulation which is currently under preparation.
The Report specifically mentions opinions on EGTC presented by the Committee of the Regions in 2008 and 2011. In these opinions the CoR called for legal changes, easing the setting up and functioning of the EGTC, and underlined the role of the EGTC as laboratories of multi-level governance. The Commission pinpoints its support to the EGTC in joint activities organised with the CoR like conferences, seminars during the Open Days and the joint consultation launched in 2010. The CoR has supplied the information about EGTC set up and in phase of constitution, published in the working paper accompanying the report. The document of the Commission also contains four concrete examples of EGTC as good practices: ‘Grande Région’, ‘Hospital de la Cerdanya’, ‘Ister Granum’ and ‘Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Courtrai’.
Follow this link for more information about the Report on EGTC. The whole Report (in English) can be viewed here.