Presentation EGTC and Governance

On 1 June 2020 the Spanish Autonomous Community of Aragon and Provincial Council of Huesca and the French Departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques agreed, upon signing a collaboration agreement, to create a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) called “Pirineos-Pyrénées”.

Based on accumulated experience, the signatories decided to express the need to further deeper cooperation through exchange relationships and common projects for mutual development and enhanced territorial, economic and social cohesion in this cross-border territory.

To that end, one of the priority actions was to boost and project common cooperation and adapt border crossing conditions to actual needs. This implies that the respective border areas operate jointly to achieve coordinated, consistent and more efficient management, thereby achieving optimised results that benefit all the signatories and the implementation of new cooperation projects.

In the last ten years this cooperation had been successfully undertaken by the Consortium for the Bielsa-Aragnouet Tunnel and the EGTCs of Espacio Portalet and Huesca Pirineos – Hautes-Pyrénées, achieving significant results toward the proposed objectives.

The Pirineos-Pyrénées EGTC hence results from the willingness of territories inherently linked by history and mobility to work and cooperate, based on what has already been done and with a view to new challenges to overcome.

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Governance

The EGTC’s governing and administrative bodies are:

1. The Assembly – the EGTC’s top governing and management body.

It comprises:

• Four representatives of the Autonomous Community of Aragon;
• Four representatives of the Provincial Council of Huesca; 
• Four representatives of the Department of Hautes-Pyrénées; 
• Four representatives of the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

2. The President.

The EGTC’s presidency is held by each of the member entities on a rotating basis. The position of president of the EGTC is held by a member of the Assembly so designated by the territorial entity that holds the presidency.

The presidential term of office is two years, which can exceptionally be extended for up to one year.

The presidency of the Pirineos-Pyrénées EGTC is currently held by the Government of Aragon (202-2024)

3. The Vice Presidents.

The vice presidency of the EGTC comprises four vice presidents, who perform their duties within specific scopes of the objective and functions of the EGTC.

The four current vice presidents of the Pirineos-Pyrénées EGTC are:

• Tourism Area.Vice presidency held by the Department of Hautes-Pyrénées.
• Cross-border Infrastructures and Mobility Area.Vice presidency held by the Government of Aragon.
• Innovation and Sustainability Area.Vice presidency held by the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
• Territory Area.Vice presidency held by the Provincial Council of Huesca.

4. The director.