Brussels, 27/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The mayors and presidents of the regions have asked legislators to simplify the rules for infrastructure and cross-border public services for citizens. During the Committee of the Regions (CoR) plenary session on Thursday 27 January they outlined the tools for improving the key legal framework, the EGTC (European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation). They also launched the platform for the public authorities to be able to improve coordination between different national legislations, which in many cases are not compatible with each other.
Direct cooperation between the regions and cities brings many advantages to citizens, such as water, gas and electricity supplies, as well as other services in the crossborder regions. The EGTC was set up in 2006, following an intensive lobbying campaign by the CoR. It is a tool for helping to reduce the administrative burden for these cross-border projects, explained the president of the CoR, Mercedes Bresso, during a joint press conference with rapporteur, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo (EPP, Spain).
Bresso noted that there were two questions the EGTC was having difficulty with: - 1) the mobility of workers from the different sides of the border. She noted that it is difficult to obtain cross-border staff because the laws governing employment are not necessarily the same; - 2) the management of pensions, which is an extremely complicated issue. The president said that with the EGTC they did not want to create state level problems or encroach on national competences. She highlighted the obligation of the multi-nationality criteria of the EGTC. Bresso also announced that before 1 August, the Commission would bring out its report, which was the reason why the CoR has now been invited to give its opinion. (G.B./transl.fl)