The EGTC: State of play & current challenges 3 rd Meeting of the EGTC Approval Authorities Budapest, 7 March 2014 Marc Kiwitt, Administrator Committee of the Regions of the European Union

1. Latest news 2. The revised EGTC Regulation 3. Cohesion policy and Operational Programmes

1. Latest news

Some figures Latest news  46 EGTCs set up and registered by the Committee of the Regions  Two more EGTCs currently pending registration  More than 600 local and regional authorities involved  EGTCs are a reality in 19 Member States  EGTCs have an impact on the life of 30 million Europeans

Open Days Workshop of the EGTC Platform Latest news Workshop on 9 October 2013 on EGTCs as cross- border players in the Single Market :  EGTCs can decline locally the issues related to the Single Market, such as mobility of citizens, consumer protection and public procurement.  However, the groupings meet operational problems. One example:  Opening a bank account of the EGTC in each of the countries involved as a requirement for procurement.

Award “Building Europe across Borders” Latest news  Bi-annual award of the CoR for EGTCs  Focus on actions related to growth and jobs  2014 award winner: Eurorégion Pyrénées- Méditérranée for its project ‘Créamed’  Honourable mentions: Gate to Europe and Tyrol- South Tyrol-Trentino

2. The revised EGTC Regulation

New elements of the Regulation The revised EGTC Regulation The Regulation (EU) 1302/2013 was adopted on 17 December 2013, amending the Regulation of 2006:  The convention becomes the main document for an EGTC and may establish specific rules governing e.g.:  Staff,  Procurement,  Taxation,  Audit and financial control.  Other aspects:  Tacit approval of new EGTCs after six months;  Entities from non-EU Member States and non-profit private entities providing public services can be EGTC members.

Three joint statements The revised EGTC Regulation The final version of the EGTC regulation contains several statements agreed between the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council: I. The Institutions intend “to improve the visibility of the possibilities to use EGTCs as an optional instrument for territorial cooperation available in all EU policy areas”. II. The institutions engage themselves to undertake “actions of coordination and communication among national authorities and between authorities of different Member States in order to ensure clear, efficient and transparent procedures of authorization of new EGTCs”. III. The Member States will endeavour to apply the rules of the Regulation on law applicable to contractual obligations for the staff hired under private law and the principle of territoriality for staff hired under public law.

Role of the Committee of the Regions The revised EGTC Regulation The role of the Committee of the Regions as EGTC register is reinforced:  The EGTC register was implemented by decision of the CoR Secretary-General.  It is available in all official EU languages and contains micro-sites for all EGTCs.  In a statement contained in the new Regulation, the institutions have confirmed the role of the CoR in managing the EGTC register.  From 22 June 2014, the CoR will publish the setup of new EGTCs in section C of the Official Journal of the European Union.

3. Cohesion Policy and Operational Programmes

Implementation – What is new?  EGTCs can be:  managing authorities of programmes or their beneficiaries;  Intermediate authorities of Integrated Territorial Investments;  Implementing bodies of Joint Action Plans and of CLLD (not alone).  Operational Programmes can contain provisions on cross-border cooperation, transnational and interregional actions (Art (d) CPR).  Specific instruments in which the EGTCs are interested:  Joint Action Plan (JAP): 10 EGTCs:  Community-Led Local Development (CLLD): 9 EGTCs  Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI): 15 EGTCs Cohesion policy and Operational Programmes

Participation in Operational Programmes Cohesion policy and Operational Programmes  Border regions and EGTCs need to be consulted in the preparation of programming documents as part of a structured dialogue (cf. Art. 5 CCP).  The national authorities should consider the specific needs of border areas and the potential of the EGTCs for the ETC. Joint CoR-AEBR Seminar “The participation of citizens from border regions in the Operational Programmes – The Case of the EGTC”, Brussels, 19/11/2013:

Participation in Operational Programmes Cohesion policy and Operational Programmes A letter with the conclusions of the seminar was sent by Mr Herwig van Staa, Political Coordinator of the EGTC Platform at the CoR, and Mr Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the AEBR, to:  the European Commission,  the European Parliament,  the Member States in the Council.

Participation in Operational Programmes Cohesion policy and Operational Programmes Question: Are the EGTCs actually involved in the programming process ? EGTC Monitoring Report 2013 “Towards the New Cohesion Policy”:  10 EGTCs have elaborated a position paper or key study that was presented to the Programming Group.  5 EGTCs are represented in the Programming Group (risk of conflict of interests due to the later role of EGTC as beneficiaries).  4 EGTCs intend to take over a function in management and implementation of programmes (Grande Région, Euroregione Senza Confini, EUKN, ESPON).

Conclusion

Open questions  How will the revised EGTC Regulation be implemented?  What will the future EGTC conventions look like? Are the Member States ready to approve EGTCs whose conventions override national law?  What will be the changes in approval procedures in the Member States?  How will the Member States apply the rules of the EGTC Regulation to staff?  How will the EGTCs participate in JAP, ITI, CLLD and other instruments?  What is the involvement of EGTCs in the programming process of the Operational Programmes? Conclusion

Proposal  Meeting on 6 May 2014 at the Committee of the Regions, Brussels, organised in cooperation with the Greek Presidency: Dialogue between EGTCs and National Authorities  Open agenda: Which are the key points that should be discussed? Conclusion

Thank you very much! Committee of the Regions Directorate for Horizontal Policies and Networks Unit E2 URL: Facebook: EGTC Marc Kiwitt Administrator EER & EGTC