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DG Regio Mailing 6 February 2008 - The Lead Partner Principle and the EGTC
Clarification on the applicability of the Lead Partner Principle to projects managed by EGTCs as final beneficiaries
We have received a number of questions concerning the role of a European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation (or a similar grouping) in relation to the partnership requirements for territorial co-operation projects.
1. An EGTC can be either a beneficiary or a lead beneficiary in a territorial co-operation project. While Article 18 of the ERDF Regulation (Parliament and Council Regulation 1080/2006) speaks about programme management, it does not exclude project management, and indeed project management is expressly covered in the EGTC Regulation (Parliament and Council Regulation 1082/2006).
2. Article 19 of the ERDF Regulation sets out certain conditions for project partnerships (eg for cross-border co-operation, a partnership shall include beneficiaries from at least two countries). Article 19 should be interpreted so as to permit the use of an EGTC in such contexts. Since an EGTC brings together authorities or organisations from at least two Member States to act on behalf of those authorities or organisations, the use of an EGTC as a lead beneficiary should be considered as satisfying the requirements of Article 19 (evidently for interregional projects, partners from at least three countries would need to be in the EGTC). Thus, an EGTC can act as “sole” beneficiary, since it would meet the partnership requirements by itself.
3. Other legal bodies, similar to EGTCs in construction, can equally act as “sole” beneficiary in such cases.
Territorial Co-operation Unit (Unit E.1)
DG Regional Policy
European Commission
