The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) is an extremely flexible instrument and each state can use it in a manner that meets its strategic development interests, Alina Popa, executive director of the Euronest Intercommunity Development Association of Romania, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.
Within the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation, partners – regional and local authorities from EU member states and also third countries, such as the Republic of Moldova or Ukraine – can implement various cross-border and interregional projects, having direct access to the European Commission’s funds. Currently, the first steps are being taken to set up an EGTC involving the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
Alina Popa noted that Romania is currently part of several small EGTCs, relevant at the level of municipalities, which were set up in Hungary. The partner entities in Romania are mostly concentrated in Transylvanian. “There are few things to say about the advantages for the partners in Romania because these groupings have been relatively inactive, their field of interest being mainly focused on the cultural area,” said the executive director of the Euronest Intercommunity Development Association of Romania.
Asked what can be done about the EGTCs and what is not currently happening in Romania, Alina Popa said that the members of these groupings must also set other types of objectives than the cultural ones. “I’m referring to the strategic facilities in the area of infrastructure or health. A European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation also has this advantage because it represents an important community of at least two EU member states or third countries. It can have a different kind of dialogue with representatives of the European Commission, maybe under certain conditions that have happened, or we hope will happen in the future, so as to generate additional funding for projects that are really relevant to the members involved or to the European Commission. States, such as France and Belgium, for example, frequently use this tool and I had the opportunity to see it in work, especially in of health services, transport, education. These are facilities created jointly by the two states, by the public administrations in the area of relevance, which provide such services for the benefit of the citizens of the two states,” said Alina Popa.
Advocating the setting up of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, Alina Popa said that the European money available now, at least in the relationship with the Republic of Moldova, is tiny compared to the needs. The amounts that Romania’s national budget can allocate for projects intended for cooperation with the Republic of Moldova are insufficient to cover the needs. There is this option of having access to financial resources that are not part of the package allocated to Romania from European funds. In such a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, when the parties assume strategic objectives, special funding is released. “The EGTC is a tool that saves time, facilitates things and, in the end, creates preconditions for accessing sources of funding that neither we nor you can access,” said the executive director of the Euronest Intercommunity Development Association.
Asked to estimate the time needed for the organization of an EGTC in Romania, Alina Popa said that if the Republic of Moldova will do its legislative homework quickly enough, it will be easier to go through this process. Everything depends on when the Regulation on European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation is adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
She also referred to the objectives that the future Romania-Republic of Moldova European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation should set for itself. “In the very short and medium terms, I believe that the reconstruction of Ukraine should be exploited. The EGTC is not the only one, but it can be an effective means for the Republic of Moldova to ensure that it is part of this reconstruction process, because it is obviously affected by the situation in Ukraine. In the medium and long terms, I consider important the strategic facilities related to energy efficiency, transport, implicitly rail infrastructure. We should not forget that there are still portions of Russian gauge in the Republic of Moldova. It would be an opportunity to align this gauge with the European standards so that freight transport, in particular, becomes competitive together with the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union,” stated Alina Popa.
The public debate entitled “Romania-Republic of Moldova, creation of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation” was the ninth installment of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, which is funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova. The content of this debate does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
