EGTCs:THEIR DYNAMIC ROLE IN CROSS-BORDER

AND INTER-TERRITORIAL COOPERATION

THE FRENCH EXPERIENCE

22 Mars 2011 Marie-Christine BERNARD-GELABERT

DG Territorial Entities – French Ministry for the Interior

PRELIMINARY REMARKS :

DECENTRALISED COOPERATIONPUT INTO ACTION

BY FRENCH TERRITORIAL ENTITIES

AND THEIR GROUPINGS

SOME DEFINITIONS

• Decentralised cooperation : any action of cooperation between French territorial entities and their groupings, on the one hand, and foreign territorial entities on the other hand. The field of application – geographical or thematic - is very large. Decentralised cooperation includes the actions of development aid in a North–South context.

• Cross-border decentralised cooperation : any action of cooperation set up between neighbouring territorial entities that belong to different States. This is one of the most successful forms of decentralised cooperation when it aims to set up a structure with a legal personality to manage common equipment or services.

• The instruments created in the framework of cross-border cooperation have gradually been opened up to inter-territorial cooperation, that is, cooperation without the requirement of geographical continuity.

GRADUAL APPEARANCE

OF A LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO ORGANISE

CROSS-BORDER AND INTER-TERRITORIAL COOPERATION

CARRIED OUT BY FRENCH TERRITORIAL ENTITIES

Historical background

- The first examples of decentralised cooperation appeared after the Second World War in the form of twinning arrangements.

- In the last thirty years, laws have been passed in France (most recently on 16 April 2008) that have gradually established a legal framework for cooperation between French territorial entities and foreign ones

- These provisions have all been codified into one chapter of the Territorial Entities General Code (CGCT)

This recognition in French law is due to three factors:1- the momentum of the work done by the Council of Europe2- the French decentralisation laws of 1982-83 and 20043- to meet new needs generated by the development of cross-border flows

Instruments used

1- Conventional international instruments:

- France-Italy - Rome 1993 - France-Spain - Bayonne 1995- France-Germany-Switwerland-Luxembourg - Karlsruhe 1996 - France-Belgium – Brussels 2002 2. French instruments :

- cooperation conventions- foreign territorial entities joining public-private partnerships (SEML)- French territorial entities and their groupings joining foreign partnerships - the establishment of a cross-border cooperation structure governed by French law (‘Local grouping for cross-border cooperation’ - GLCT or European district)

The players

1. French territorial entities : and their groupings

2. The State traditionally has a rôle : guarantor of compliance, the State accompagnies and promotes cooperation between territorial entities. Under French law, no French territorial entity may sign a convention with an entity outside France.

NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR

CROSS-BORDER OR INTER-TERRITORIAL COOPERATION

OFFERED BY

THE EUROPEAN GROUPING OF

TERRITORIAL COOPERATION (EGTC)

1. One legal framework throughout the European Union

2. Enables association of territorial entities of different levels and also the State and other public bodies

3. It can be used in a cross-border, inter-regional or transnational framework

EGTC : an innovative instrument

The EGTC in French law 16 April 2008 - Articles L. 1115-4-2 et seq. of the TEGC )

1- EGTCs with their headquarters in France are governed in a subsidiary manner by the law of « public-private partnerships »

2- The regulations allow for the participation of Third Country entities under certain conditions. The bordering Third Country States that are members of the Council of Europe (Suisse, Monaco, Andorre) are expressly allowed to participate in a EGTC.

3- Prior authorisation from the regional prefect is required for participation in an EGTC. EGTCs, as bodies governed by public law, are under the supervision of the prefect.

EGCT : a promising instrument

➩ 7 EGTCs already set up along the frontiers of France. 6 of them have their headquarters in France.

➩ There are about ten other projects in the pipeline.

➩ Wide variety of members : territorial entities, State, public bodies

➩ Wide variety of projects:- Managing a community programme - Managing a public resource or service- Territorial development in a cross-border metropolitan area

or a Euroregion

The challenges ahead

➩ Shorten the processing time (improve information sharing between Member States, enhance the quality of projects)

➩ Resolve the difficulties by harmonising the regulations and the national law that governs the headquarters: e.g. employment conditions

➩ Make it easier for Third Countries to take part - upcoming ratification of the Protocol on Euroregional Co-operation Groupings (ECGs) 

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