European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation - a legal form supporting cross-border cooperation in the European Union

• Author: Tomás Malatinec, Ján Kyjovský
• Pages: 261-270

European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation – a legal form

supporting cross-border cooperation in the European Union

Assistant professor Tomáš MALATINEC1

Student Ján KYJOVSKÝ2

Abstract

European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) is European legal form that

can be established under the Regulation (EC) No. 1082/2006 o n a European Grouping of

Territorial Cooperation. This measure is a part of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy,

which aims to gradually reduce regional disparities a nd promote economic, social and

territorial cohesion. EGTC supports and facilitates the formalized cross-border cooperation

between Member States of the European Union, as well as their regional and local public

authorities. Cross-border cooperation, which is a part of the Cohesion Policy, focuses mainly

on border regions, whose weakness is their periphery location. In connection with the

creation of the EGTCs, Member States may adopt measures to support this legal form by

their national legislation and practice. The aim of the article is to present EGT C in terms of

the European material and formal sources of law that have prompted the emergence of this

legal form and govern the conditions for its establishment. EGTCs have the predisposition

to carry o ut various activities related to cross-border cooperation. The European legal

framework allows the use of EGTCs as entities for implementation of cross-border public

procurement.

Keywords: European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, legal form, cross-

border cooperation, European integration.

JEL Classification: K19, K23, K39

1. Introduction

The European Union carries out, in a pursuit of its objectives, numerous

policies which are either in its exclusive competence or are performed as common

or supportive one in relation to the Member States. One of the most important

policies of the European Union is undoubtedly its cohesion policy. The Cohesion

Policy of the European Union is an important tool used in a support of the European

integration. It is the most important investment policy of the European Union. It aims

to promote economic, social and territorial cohesion. Cohesion policy was grounded

1 Tomáš Malatinec – Department of Regional Science and Management, Faculty of Economics,

Technical University of Košice; PhD. student - Department of Commercial Law and Business Law,

Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, tomas.malatinec@tuke.sk.

2 Ján Kyjovský – Master's student, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Košice, Slovakia,

jan.kyjovsky.2@student.tuke.sk.