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THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS



- emphasises that economic, social and territorial cohesion helps the Union, all its Member States and its territorial units to be better prepared to face the challenges posed by globalisation for Europe and prevent a potential loss of influence;

- concludes that the EGTC can be the Community legal response to the institutionalisation of territorial cooperation within the Union, which still allows European territorial bodies to freely choose other forms or formulas, with or without legal personality, although these would not be genuinely Community entities, but international ones;

- considers that the EGTCs also provide useful prospects as "laboratories" for multi-level governance, also advocates the introduction of a specific programme with Community funding, allocated from the ERDF, which would contribute to the creation of new EGTCs or the conversion of prospective cooperation projects managed using conventional formats;

- considers it necessary to remind the authorities managing the programmes and clearly specify in the future revised Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 that there can never be grounds for discriminating against EGTCs when taking part on a competitive basis in such Community initiatives, calls for tender or programmes, all the more so since the very existence of the EGTC bears witness to the reality of a permanent European grouping and fulfils the usual requirements of transnationality;

- welcomes the decision taken by the CoR Bureau on 26 January 2011 to set up an EGTC platform of the Committee of the Regions to provide on-going evaluation of the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 and the practical progress of the EGTCs.