The Committee of the Regions and the European Parliament call on the Council to start talks on the Commission's proposal for a revised regulation for European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation. According to the CoR's President, Mercedes Bresso, by correcting a set of restrictive and confusing provision on the current legislation, the law will be at the service of the territorial development.

During a inter-institutional conference organised by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Parliament on 29 March, both institutions called for the adoption by the Council of the revised regulation for European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). Mercedes Bresso, President of the CoR underlined that the new EGTC legal framework became a reality within the current programming period 2007-2013. She stressed that by correcting a set of restrictive and confusing provisions in the current regulation, this law can be place at the service of territorial development, and not vice-versa.

According to the CoR members the draft regulation improves the functioning of EGTC without a direct link to EU funding. In the absence of relevant budgetary issues, the Committee of the Regions calls for a rapid adoption of the new regulation without taking the risk to be taken hostage by the adoption of the entire legislative package on cohesion post 2013. They added that the EGTC empowers local and regional communities and stimulates growth across borders.

The Committee has already proposed some amendments to facilitate the creation of the new EGTCs, to clarify the legal requirements in the EU Member States and to confirm its role in the follow-up and promotion of the Groupings. So far, 26 EGTCs have been created involving more than 570 local and regional authorities in 15 Member States representing 22 million European citizens. With 20 more EGTCs expected to be launched in the coming months, it has become even more urgent to introduce the new rules.