The Secretary-General of the European Committee of the Regions invites the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation to submit their applications for the 2018 edition of the award "Building Europe across borders" – Award for EGTCs.

What is the Award for European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation?

The European Committee of the Regions launched a European award named "Building Europe Across Borders" to recognise and give visibility to the best practice of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) in Europe. This award is biennial, and 2018 marks its third edition.

In line with the CoR strategy to support the EGTCs, the objective of the award is to underline the role of these groupings as a lever for economic growth and job creation, environmental and nature protection, and as promotors of education, social inclusion, cultural heritage and European citizenship.

The award intends to recognize the concrete achievements of the existing EGTCs, showing the EU added value of this instrument and promoting them as examples for other groupings or similar cross-border, interregional and transnational structures.

The award aims to promote the 'bottom-up' efforts made by local and regional authorities to address the diverse needs of their citizens. The award also intends to contribute to better knowledge of the EGTCs by the national, regional and local authorities in the EU, by the EU institutions and by the general public.

Excerpt from the rules of procedure

According to the Decision of the Bureau of the European Committee of the Regions of 9 October 2017, Item 9b, regarding the Revision of the Award for the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, only EGTCs established at the latest a year before the call, and whose establishment has been notified to the European Committee of the Regions according to Art. 5 of the Regulation 1082/2006 are eligible to participate.

The award will recognize concrete actions and projects implemented by EGTCs on their territory. The candidate EGTC shall submit a detailed documentation in English related to the nominated action or project, which will be examined and evaluated by the Jury. The specific documents required will be defined in the call.

The candidate EGTC shall submit a detailed description of its measure or project, which shall be examined by the jury.

The jury will examine the applications and will exclude those that do not fulfil the criteria of eligibility, those that are not properly documented and those that are manifestly not related to the scope of action of the award. The jury will be entitled to require additional information and verification if needed. This information will be provided as soon as possible.

The jury will assess the applications according to the criteria of the call and to the general criteria of the award, and will decide upon the winner of the EGTC Award. The jury will have the right to decide about additional honourable mentions.

The EGTC award will be announced and delivered during the corresponding annual meeting of the EGTC Platform in October 2018.

Non-awarded projects or actions of the EGTCs can be re-submitted to future calls only if those projects or actions continue to be implemented and continue to produce new impacts during the following years. 

About the 2018 Call for interest

Award criteria:

The award shall reward concrete actions and projects implemented by EGTCs and having impact in their respective territories at least during 2016 and/or 2017. The jury shall take into account the added value of the EGTC in implementing the action, its impact on the territory and its value as best practice.

The Award for European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation shall take into account measures and projects implemented by EGTCs which contribute to the areas listed below:

1. Impact and outcome of the action, based on measurable indicators, that will be assessed in proportion to the size of the EGTC and the actual needs of the territory;
2. Innovative approach, transnational dimension and European added value due to the fact that the measure is conceived and carried out by an EGTC;
3. Possible synergies with other EGTCs;
4. Implementation of the principle of multi-level governance and a bottom-up approach;
5. Sustainability and permanence of the measure, integration of the measures in a wider strategy for the territory;
6. Visibility among the public and the media of the EGTC territory;
7. Potential for transferability and replication as best practice;
8. Promotion of the European Union by the EGTC and its members.

We invite the EGTCs to present documents, news clips, images and other supporting documents that would allow us to assess the eligibility of the EGTC for this award.

Who can apply?

Only EGTCs established before 1 February 2017 can participate (EGTC existing for at least one year).

The establishment of the EGTC must have been notified to the European Committee of the Regions according to Article 5 of the Regulation (EC) 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council as amended by Regulation (EU) 1302/2013.

How to apply?

The deadline for submission of applications is 16 April 2018. Applications received outside of this deadline will be deemed as not eligible.

The application form, as well as further information, shall be available on the EGTC web page: www.cor.europa.eu/egtc

The application form shall be signed by the director of the EGTC and send to egtc@cor.europa.eu

Award Ceremony

The Award and potential honourable mentions will be handed during a reception after the EGTC Platform meeting that will take place in Brussels on 8 October 2018.