State aid in cross-border cooperation projects

State aid is a legal matter which, even though it is based on clear principles, in practice is being governed by a number of secondary regulations and guidelines. Practice is acquired by the know-how gained in notification procedures with the European Commission and the decisions taken by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Thus State aid is a field of legal expertise where experience-based know-how is particularly important for taking adequate and proportionate decisions.

Compared to other types of EU-programmes, European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes are challenged by: - the fact that the range of possible activities is usually rather broad and there are hardly any standardised project types
- Funding volumes per partner are often quite small
- thus from the perspective of national State aid authorities ETC is not a main concern.

Author: Jürgen Pucher and Christine Hamža (METIS GmbH).

EU Bookshop: Find further publications of the Committee of the Regions through EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/committee-of-the-regions-of-the-european-union-cbziQKABstXaMAAAEjH4kY4e5K/

ESO: Background information: The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-european-grouping-of-territorial-cooperation-egtc/

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