The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation: A Big-Bang Within Cross-Border Cooperation?

Abstract

This chapter will explore recent developments in the governance of cross-border cooperation. By focusing on the latest developments of Community Initiative Programmes such as Interreg III and IV, and on the process which led to the adoption and application of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), or Regulation 1082/2006, this chapter will assess the extent to which governance is state-centred in a ‘zero-sum game’ or is multi-layered within the EU. Within the multi-level governance theoretical framework, the chapter will address the issue whether we can speak of an alliance between sub-national, supra-national and transnational actors in cross-border cooperation programmes in pushing towards multi-level governance. It will firstly analyse EU Commission and Committee of the Regions’ White Papers and it will examine the stages and guiding principles of cross-border cooperation, from the Council of Europe Convention of 1980 under international law to the Commission European Communities Initiative and finally the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) under Community law. Here, the focus is on the process that led to Regulation 1802/2006. In particular, it will be explored the role played by supra-national institutions like the CoE and the Commission; transnational institutions such as the Committee of the Regions and the Association of European Border Regions and sub-national actors in cross-border cooperation and the alliances between these actors.