Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 1 INTERACT Pilot Activity Interregional Cooperation in Objectives 1 and 2 Kick-off meeting Paris 15 March 2011 Dirk Peters REGIO B.3

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 2 Overview 1.Aspects to be covered (6 big headings) 2.Setting up of an EGTC 3.Possible amendments to OP’s 4.References, Questions & Answers

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 3 1. Aspects to be covered A.Who? -Partners to be identified B.How much? Allocation; co-funding C.What? - Priorities/measures/activities to be defined D.How? - Project selection criteria and procedures; project implementation; financial control and audit E.Where? – Expenditure outside own programme area F.When? - Duration

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 4 A) Who? – Partners to be identified  There is no unilateral cooperation: Any form of cooperation is about partners coming from regional/local authorities in at least TWO Member States!  Beneficiaries not necessarily only the «regional/local authorities»! (Genesis of that provision)  Political will and commitment of all partners is necessary, but not sufficient!  No partner identified in OP  Art. 37 (-)  Partner identified in 1 OP, but not reflected in OP of «partner region»  «Unilateral cooperation with certain interregional scope»

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 5 B) How much? – Allocation; co-funding  Absolute amount in € or percentage (%) specifically set aside on OP level or on level of priority axis  Art. 37 (+)  Amount under Code 10 (interregional cooperation) additional argument  Art. 37 (+)  No amount or % specified  Art. 37 (-)  « Unilateral cooperation with certain interregional scope »  Co-funding rate according the co-funding OP; Article 53(3) Reg 1083/2006 does NOT apply  INTERREG IVC minimum/maximum amounts for projects do NOT apply

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 6 C) What? – Priorities/measures/ activities to be defined (1/2)  « Unilateral cooperation with certain interregional scope »  Only own OP fixes content  Art. 37(-)  Articles 4 and 5 ERDF apply, NOT Article 6!  Partner regions identified in 2 OP’s + in both OP’ amounts or % are identified   « Mirror cooperation » (1st degree of Art. 37 cooperation)  Content different, identified in each OP independently (especially in cases of cooperation between Obj 1 and 2)  or content identified in both OP’s with +/-same text  but still separate selection criteria/ procedures

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 7 C) What? – Priorities/measures/ activities to be defined ( 2/2)  « Common cooperation » (2nd degree of Art. 37 cooperation)  Partners identified; amounts or % set aside!  Content identical in all OP’s  Common project selection criteria (but still formally separate selection procedures)  Common rules on project implementation

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 8 D) How? – Project selection criteria and procedures; project implementation; financial control and audit (1/3)  « Joint informal cooperation » (3rd degree of Art. 37 cooperation)  Partners identified; amounts or % set aside!  Content identical in all OP’s  Common project selection criteria  Joint informal committee for project selection (to be validated by individual programmes)

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 9 D) How? – Project selection criteria and procedures; project implementation; financial control and audit (2/3)  « Joint formal cooperation » (4th degree of Art. 37 cooperation)  Partners identified  Content identical in all OP’s  Amounts pooled together on joint account (possibly as a global grant)  Common project selection criteria  Joint legal body (EGTC?) to implement joint allocation

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 10 D) How? – Project selection criteria and procedures; project implementation; financial control and audit (3/3)  Financial control and audit: Draw inspiration from Articles 14 and 16 of ERDF-Regulation for ETC  Joint body (EGTC!) to do 1st level controls in all regions  In each region own auditors audit, but all programme audit authorities recognize findings of the others

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 11 E) Where? – Expenditure outside own programme area  Article 21(3) ERDF-Regulation does NOT apply! Regions of third countries may participate, but EFRD cannot be spent there!  Expenditure outside own programme area possible under the following conditions: Co-funding OP region will “directly benefit wholly or predominantly” from such expenditure off-shore Authorities of co-funding OP bears ultimate responsibility for legality and regularity of expenditure off-shore Commission will only communicate with authorities of co-funding OP  Robust agreements between authorities of co- funding OP and of the region where ERDF is spent

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION 12 F) When? – Duration  Final date for eligibility of expenditure: 31/12/2015  INTERREG IVC rules on maximum duration of projects do NOT apply  OP’s free to work with (joint) calls or with an on-going system for project submission  Long-standing cooperation between regions (4 Motors for Europe)  EGTC?!

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION Setting up of an EGTC (1/2)  Partners set up an EGTC to implement mainstream interregional cooperation  Defined regions are partners (Quid new partners?)  Assembly defines themes, selection criteria and procedures  Director signs grants with lead beneficiary  Region 1 accepts that expenditure of « its » beneficiaries in Region 2 are controlled by Region 2 and accepts the results (inside EU)

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION Setting up of an EGTC (2/2)  Global grant  Each managing authority entrusts the management of interregional cooperation in the form of an GG to an intermediate body (EGTC?) via an agreement defining all aspects listed in Article 41 of Reg 1083/2006; EGTC is NOT beneficiary  Management costs of EGTC under TA!  Not as Global grant  Each OP just refers for the management of interregional cooperation to an intermediate body in the form of an EGTC WITHOUT agreement between MA and EGTC; definition of all aspects listed left over to the EGTC; EGTC is the beneficiary (national/regional co-funding managed by EGTC as well?)  Once an EGTC is set up, it can be used for other types of interregional cooperation OUTSIDE Structural Funds

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION Possible amendments of OP’s According to Article 37(6)(b)  All partner regions of EGTC are mentioned  Joint priorities/measures/activities are defined  Corresponding co-funding is fixed  Code 10 of Table 3 (Territorial dimension) to be added  Following issues according to cooperation degree! Details of implementation are left over to EGTC (selection criteria & procedure, grant letters/contracts; controls) Global grant body and/or EGTC are mentioned in up-date of Management and control systems description

Regional Policy EUROPEAN COMMISSION References; Questions & Answers  References: OJ L 210 of 31/7/2006 with whole legislative package INFOREGIO  EGTC  Committee of Regions INTERACT (Handbook how to set up an EGTC?)  Contact: Dirk Peters REGIO B.3 Tel. +32/2/