ABSTRACT
This chapter undertakes a literature review of the existing body of literature with the intention of outlining the main characteristics of the existing European Grouping for Territorial Cooperations (EGTCs). It helps to identify under which analytical lenses the EGTC tool has been scrutinised in the emerging inter-disciplinary body of literature. The chapter interrogates the spatial dimension of the EGTC tool, then its institutional implications among its partners and in respect to the EU regional policy. It also interrogates the meaning of the EGTC tool for the citizens and the broad concept of cross-border identity. In the cross-border context, institutions are understood as playing a crucial role in the region-building process. The chapter provides a close literature review demonstrates that the EGTC regulation represents a unique institutional framework facilitating not only the institutionalisation of cross-border cooperation but also its construction as the unique reference point in the cross-border area, distinct to its members.
