The Institute for Project Development and Expertise (IDEP) and the Intercommunity Development Association EURONEST propose the creation of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, an instrument that could improve the lives of people in the region by jointly accessing European projects.

Iurie Calestru, IDEP program director, noted at a press conference on Thursday that the EGTCs were established with the aim of facilitating cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. An EGTC allows partners from different states to team up and provide common services without the need of a prior international agreement among the national authorities.

There are about 88 EGTCs already created across the EU, and if the Romanian authorities agree to the creation of the first EGTC as a leader, with the Republic of Moldova is a partner, Moldova will be able to access European projects directly from the European Commission together with Romania.

EGTCs have legal personality, they can be established at the level of member states or national authorities, regional authorities, local authorities, public companies or public law bodies, enterprises that provide services of general economic interest, national, regional or local authorities, bodies or enterprises from third countries subject to certain conditions. The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine are among those eligible as EGTC partners, said Iurie Calestru.

None of the 88 existing EGTCs is based in Romania, but Romanian public are members of six EGTCs, four of which are based in Hungary. Among the countries with the most established EGTCs are Hungary, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria.

Most EGTCs target areas such as education, tourism, exchange of good practices. There are also EGTCs specializing in health care. Iurie Calestru believes that in the current post-pandemic period, with multiple regional challenges of all kinds, security, energy, etc., it is the time when society must contribute to the European integration process, which is also possible through projects financed by the European Union. In this sense, the EGTC could be an additional tool to the outstanding results of the authorities. Moldova and its citizens could benefit from additional projects and funds, concluded the IDEP program director.