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However, the “European” terminology for territorial diplomacy surpasses the framework of decentralized cooperation or local diplomacy referred to above: firstly, at the European level, it is also understood as a para-diplomatic action on the part of federated states, one that is authorized in federal systems and inscribed as such in their constitutions (for example in Germany or in the Swiss Confederation). Secondly, in the context of European integration and especially after the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity in article 3B of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, territorial diplomacy also became a tool for local and regional authorities to participate in European policy. They conduct a “minor” foreign policy within the EU, which enables them to go beyond national borders by developing interregional, cross-border, transnational, and macro-regional cooperation. This European territorial diplomacy is firstly supposed to contribute to the implementation of EU Regional Policy. With the creation of the Interreg program by the European Commission in 1990, the European Community directly associated regions with the carrying out of the Common Market. With the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) of 2004, the EU also provided for the contribution of regions to the stabilization of external borders and provided them with a financial tool, the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument, in order to accomplish this task. The role of regions in Regional Policy was further reinforced in 2007, when the European Commission introduced the objective of territorial cooperation, with the aim of having regions contribute to European economic and social cohesion through their “small” foreign policy. Finally, since the creation of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) in 2007, local authorities can formalize external relations with their European neighbours and set up transnational legal structures. With the adoption of the Third Protocol of the Madrid Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation in 2009, the Council of Europe prepared for the implementation of a similar legal instrument, the Euroregional Cooperation Groupings (ECG), which is destined for the border regions of the Council of Europe's 47 member states. This legal instrument notably enables local and regional authorities of non-EU members to conduct neighbourhood policy and to thus contribute to the stabilization of the European continent.
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