What European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation are and what role they play in accessing European funds

The EGTCs or European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation were established with the aim of facilitating cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation between the member states or regional and local authorities within them. The aim is to contribute to economic and social cohesion and to promote multi-level governance mechanisms.

In a news conference hosted by IPN, Iurie Calestru, director of the Institute for Project Development and Expertise of the Republic of Moldova, explained that EGTCs allow partners from different member states to unite and provide, within the limits of their competences, joint services or to manage joint investments and infrastructure, without the need for a prior international agreement to be signed and ratified by the national authorities.

Currently, there are 88 European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation in the European Union, located in 13 member states. They function as legal entities that aim to facilitate cooperation between local and regional authorities in different member countries so as to carry out joint, cross-border, transnational or interregional projects. Romania participates in six of these EGTCs, four of which are based in Hungary, but does not host any EGTCs on its territory.

Among the countries with the most EGTCs are France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Austria. The constituted group can access large amounts directly from the European Commission or through various European Union programs.

According to Iurie Calestru, only through the financial-budgetary year 2021-2027 alone, about €9 billion was allocated for the 88 territorial groupings existing in the EU. EGTCs are entities with legal personality and can be set up at different levels: between member states, including third countries such as the Republic of Moldova or Ukraine, between institutions, central public authorities, including between public enterprises or bodies governed by public law, etc.

The opportunity to create EGTCs was debated in the Romanian Parliament a year ago. Subsequently, there were held a number of meetings with decision-makers and the legislation stipulated support for the creation of such groupings.

Iurie Calestru noted that the Ministry of Finance opened official discussions with European partners, asking through official channels what steps the Republic of Moldova should follow for a contact point to exist so as to move from the stage of discussions to the actual establishment of the first EGTC in the Republic of Moldova.

Note: The press conference was held within the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova of the Government of Romania. The content of this conference does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.