Getting ready for the new Cohesion Policy: 45 EGTCs established by end of 2013 - Hoofdinhoud

​The activities of 45 European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) and 15 more in the pipeline - put in place during 2013 for the next programming period - have been summarised and are accessible to the public in the Committee of the Regions' thematic EGTC portal. Coordinator of the EGTC Platform, Mr Herwig Van Staa (AT/EPP), presented the study entitled 'EGTC Monitoring Report 2013 - Towards the New Cohesion Policy' during the Platform's annual meeting on 18 February.

The study provides an overview of the role that the EGTCs intend to play in the new Cohesion Policy during the programming period 2014-2020. Some 10 EGTCs announce their intention of participating in Joint Action Plans, 15 of them intend to be intermediate authorities in Integrated Territorial Investments, and 9 of them are planning to implement cross-border Community-Led Local Development actions. 4 EGTCs intend to be managing authority in the implementation of programmes. In all, 21 EGTCs have reported about their participation in the preparation of the Operational Programmes at national and regional level.

The reader may also find a summary of the new items included in the amended EGTC Regulation, and a complete overview of the EGTCs established, classified according to their field of activity.

The document contains several aspects that allow the evolution of the Groupings to be measured. It gives an overview of the staff directly hired by the Groupings and also of the EU funding that is actually spent. In addition to this, the report contains a chart with an aggregate picture of the activities implemented by each of the Groupings. Detailed grids allow the professionals, the researchers and the public to know which EGTC are currently involved in health policy, transport, employment, culture and others, including the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Implementing the new legislation

A workshop will bring together national authorities implementing the EGTC Regulation to promote the harmonised implementation of the revised EGTC Regulations at regional level. The event, entitled 'Implementing the new legislation on EGTC - Dialogue with the national authorities', will take place on 6 May in the Committee of the Regions. The event will bring together guest speakers and representatives from the CoR, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Greek Presidency.