MEETING OF THE COMMISSION FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION POLICY AND EU BUDGET (COTER)

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1 COTER Brussels, 21 November 2017 MEETING OF THE COMMISSION FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION POLICY AND EU BUDGET (COTER) 13 DECEMBER 2017 ITEM 4.6. EGTC PLATFORM WORK PROGRAMME FOR 2018 COR TCD-TRA (EN) 1/5 EN

2 European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Platform Work Programme for 2018 The EGTC Platform will work under the political guidance of the Chair of the COTER Commission and in cooperation with the competent CoR commissions, depending on the topic addressed. The specific content of the different events and publications will be determined after consultation with COTER members and external stakeholders who participate in the Platform's activities. 1. Priorities and activities relating to cross-border cooperation The CoR will continue to highlight the fundamental role of cross-border cooperation in this field and its contribution to the EU objective of territorial cohesion. Related priorities and activities are as follows: to continue to underline the clear European added value of cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation based on existing EGTCs, their contribution to the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union and their added value for the European Union and cross-border cooperation; to promote and examine the role of cross-border cooperation in general, and the role of the EGTC in particular, in relation to the future of cohesion policy; to explore the potential of the EGTC and promote cross-border cooperation as a means of addressing the investment gap in Europe in relation to the European Fund for Strategic Investment and the European Investment Bank's instruments; to promote the EGTC Regulation as a tool for long-term strategic cooperation between the EU's cities and regions, while at the same time offering a simplified administrative framework; to promote the EGTCs as the ideal entities acting as Management Authorities in ETC and for implementation of the ETC and other EU and national projects; to highlight the cross-border dimension in territorial impact assessments, in cooperation with ESPON, the European Commission's DG REGIO and DG JRC; to work with the Luxembourgish EU Presidency on their proposal for "Regulation on a European Cross-Border Convention (ECBC Regulation) on specific provisions in cross-border regions" within the framework of the CoR's opinion on the subject 1 ; to ensure good cooperation with the CoR Intergroup on Cross-border Cooperation; 1 CoR Opinion 4286/2015 by Nikola Dobroslavić (HR, EPP) adopted on 12 October 2015 COR TCD-TRA (EN) 2/5

3 2. Priorities and activities specifically concerning EGTCs Priorities and activities relating specifically to EGTCs are as follows: to run the EGTC register and publish information on new EGTCs in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU); to monitor the implementation of the revised EGTC Regulation and the evolution of the EGTCs on the ground, in partnership with the European Commission and in coordination with Member States. As a result, the CoR will publish the EGTC Monitoring Report 2017 and contribute to the evaluation of the revised EGTC Regulation carried out by the European Commission and planned for publication by 1 August 2018; to raise awareness of the EGTC as an instrument for territorial cohesion among European Commission services, the European External Action Service, Member States and local and regional authorities (LRAs); to promote the role of EGTCs in cohesion policy, particularly in relation to: the implementation of European Territorial Cooperation programmes and projects, new regional policy instruments, and macro-regional strategies, in cooperation with the COTER Commission; to mainstream EGTCs in areas other than cohesion policy, advocating them as laboratories for Single Market completion. To highlight their potential, in particular, in relation to long term strategic cooperation across state borders, tourism, public service providers, transport, SME policy, employment, environment (Natura 2000 and climate change), energy, education and Horizon 2020, inter alia, in cooperation with the competent CoR commissions; to encourage third countries to implement EGTC legislation particularly the enlargement candidate countries or to establish new EGTCs, following the existing examples from Ukraine and Switzerland, in cooperation with the CIVEX Commission, CORLEAP, ARLEM, the Joint Consultative Committees and the Working Groups of the CoR; to strengthen the platform concerning all three dimensions (cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation) of European Territorial Cooperation, particularly in view of the future of ETC beyond 2020; to organise events that reflect the needs and interests of the EGTC Platform members and the members of the CoR Interregional Group on cross-border cooperation and in this respect it is envisaged to organize an EGTC Platform event on Future of Europe in Athens, Greece, which will help to promote the role of EGTC in harnessing territorial cohesion and learn about specific activities of EGTCs in Greece; to organise a meeting of national EGTC Authorizing Authorities to allow them to exchange best practices, and address particular issues they are facing, in order to ensure the smoother registration of new and modification of existing EGTCs; in view of the UK's decision to withdraw from the European Union, the CoR will look into promoting the EGTC as an instrument for future relations between local and regional authorities from the UK and the Republic of Ireland, especially those along the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; COR TCD-TRA (EN) 3/5

4 in cooperation with the European Commission, to work towards raising the awareness of EGTCs in all EU-funded programmes in order to remove all the administrative obstacles in accessing EU funding. 3. Communication activities In order to achieve the objectives of awareness-raising and visibility, the EGTC Platform will carry out the following communication activities: publishing an interactive digital map of the EGTCs as well as a static digital map; run information stands at events that would be interesting for the EGTC Platform; and publish an "EGTC Best Practice" book that will look into the most successful examples of cross-border cooperation through the EGTC Regulation. The EGTC web portal will be regularly updated, boosting horizontal interaction between the Platform's participants, promoting direct communication and using official CoR social networks to promote EGTC activities. The EGTC Platform will actively participate in the "Digital communication strategy for the CoR" with the aim of increasing the visibility of the CoR as the official EU register for the EGTCs and improving the visibility of the EGTC Platform. In January 2018, the EGTC Platform will launch a call for the biennial EGTC Awards which will be held at the EGTC Platform meeting in October Following the revision of the EGTC Awards in 2017, a wider range of EGTCs will be eligible to apply for these awards. 4. Cooperation with the EU institutions and with stakeholders The institutional partners will be invited to all EGTC events and informed about all of the Platform's activities. The EGTC Platform will contribute to DG REGIO's activities in the area of cross-border cooperation and will coordinate with the European Commission to ensure that EGTCs are eligible for EU programmes. The CoR will monitor the Trio of Presidencies' activities in the area of cross-border cooperation and will meet relevant Member States representatives at the meeting of national authorities in charge of authorizing EGTCs. The collaboration with the European Parliament will be maintained, especially with the European Parliament Research Service and the STOA, and with members interested in EGTCs and cross-border cooperation in particular with the EP Cross-border Networking Group. The EGTC Platform will hold consultations, seminars and events in close cooperation with representative organisations and associations, such as the Association of European Border Regions, the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière, the Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives, the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies and INTERACT. COR TCD-TRA (EN) 4/5

5 5. Indicative timetable for key events in 2018 March Territorial Impact Assessment of the EGTC Regulation Brussels, BE April EGTC Platform meeting on the Future of Europe Athens, EL 16 May EGTC Awards Jury meeting during the CoR Plenary Session Brussels, BE May Meeting of EGTC Authorizing Authorities Brussels, BE October 8 th EGTC Platform Meeting and EGTC Biennial Awards Brussels, BE October European Week of Regions and Cities event, topic tbc Brussels, BE COR TCD-TRA (EN) 5/5