Italia-Croatia

European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation GECT GO/EZTS GO

Country

Italy

Specific Objective

• 3.1 - Cross-border mobility
• 4.1 - Culture and sustainable tourism
• 5.1 - Better cooperation for governance

Organisation type

• -

Organisation expertise

EGTC GO, is an Italian public authority with legal personality, founded in 2011 by the municipalities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempeter-Vrtojba in line with Regulation (EC) no. 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, with the aim of pinpointing and tackling the shared challenges and to make the entire cross-border area more competitive and more attractive. The territory of the three cities falls within the remit of EGTC GO. As an entity, EGTC GO can reach across the border and, for the first time, make plans and carry out actions for a single cross-border city, composed of three no longer separate municipalities, but a continuous territory with no divisions. An EGTC is currently the only legal instrument offering the following possibilities: 1. shaping a shared strategy of urban and touristic development; 2. bringing forth the needs of the three communities through an Assembly of representatives and thus avoiding any of the three cities to have a predominant role; 3. capitalizing the outcomes of past cooperation and preserving continuity; 4. operating across the entire cross-border area regardless of municipal borders. The government of the entire cross-border area has thus been re-imagined with the aim of creating a unique approach in Europe. The three cities are now considered a single settlement and referred to as a "conurbation". Between 2011 and 2013 meticulous analyses and discussions about the needs, the territorial strategy of EGTC GO has been structured into three main pillars: 1. capitalising the outcomes of two programming periods of the Italy-Slovenia cross-border cooperation in order to maximise the efficiency of public investments; 2. reviving the former "border economy" by turning national borders, i.e. barriers, from a weakness into a strength, a series of opportunities for joint advancement of the local economy by relying on the peculiarities of the territory and for the benefit of the inhabitants of the two Member States; 3. upgrading local services for the inhabitants of the three municipalities by pooling the excellences of the entire area. Starting with these three pillars, EGTC GO began operating "in the field" in 2013 through a series of specialised committees (health, culture and education, energy, urban planning, environment, sports, transports), whose aim was to find ways to streamline the resources within the thematic objectives of EU strategies. The Assembly of EGTC GO continues to determine the priorities for the development of the shared area on recommendations from the single specialised committees. Once the actions and the measures are approved, EGTC GO identifies the most suitable European funds, draws up and submits projects, which - once and if they are financed - it then carries out in line with national laws and the specific rules of EU programmes. The priorities for the programming period 2021-2027 are: tourism, health, environment and mobility. EGTC GO therefore needs to try to overcome the administrative and legal differences between Member States, since the projects financed from EU funds are carried out in Italy and in Slovenia. Some of the innovative solutions found by EGTC GO are even closely monitored by the European Commission as they might contribute to improving the cross-border cooperation between Member States. There are currently more than 80 European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation in Europe. EGTC GO is singled out among the European EGTCs as a unique way of operating and thus attracting much interest from the EU institutions and other organisations. Representatives of EGTC GO are often invited to European events to tell their experience, since EGTC GO is still the first case in Europe where an Integrated Territorial Investment is being carried out on the basis of a joint strategy by a sole beneficiary. Thus, EGTC GO can directly carry out shared projects both in Slovenia and in Italy and can invest across the shared territory of the cities without the constraints of national and administrative borders, which continue to be binding upon the territories within the competence of the three founding municipalities. EGTC GO implementend projects from the following programmes: Interreg Italy-Slovenia, Interreg Central Europe, Interreg Danube Region, Erasmus+, Horizon.

I confirm my organisation is available to act as Lead Partner

No, we are looking for Partners and a Lead Partner

Contacts

ezio.benedetti@euro-go.eu