The Committee of the Regions (CoR) issued a number of recommendation aiming to make the rules more flexible and to promote the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), the EU's legal instrument for territorial cooperation. According to the CoR, the set-up and operational procedures are still unduly complex, although the instrument is now firmly established and has clearly demonstrated its potential.

The Committee of the Regions welcomed the European Commission's proposals to simplify the set-up and operation conditions for the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). CoR members also calls for the EGTC to become the preferred instrument for territorial cooperation in European policies. It therefore issued a number of recommendations aiming to make the rules more flexible.

Among the recommendations, the CoR has pledged to continue promoting and rooting the EGTC into the institutional landscape by drawing on its EGTC platform, an interactive network of the most active local and regional authorities, and organising an interinstitutional conference on the revision of the EGTC Regulation on 29 March. CoR members also see the move to make it easier to set up EGTCs with authorities outside the EU as a very positive step. Local and regional elected representatives recommend extending the type of enterprise eligible to participate in an EGTC to include those responsible for managing public services, with a view to spurring on cooperation in public transport or public healthcare. They also call for the abolition of the excessive red tape involved in drawing up the agreement to establish an EGTC and clearer criteria for approving the agreement or rejecting the proposal.

The EGTC was established in 2006 in the form of an EU regulation, included in the legislative package for cohesion policy presented in October 2011. It is an instrument for cross-border cooperation which enables cities and regions from different Member States, as well as any other corporation applying public procurement rules, to set up cooperation groups with legal personality. It provides an opportunity to organise and manage cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation activities, thus strengthening the EU's economic and social cohesion.