The EUNICoast Legal Office met in Burgas on 17 and 18 September 2026, alongside the Alliance's Board of Rectors, to continue advancing one of the key institutional challenges for EUNICoast: the establishment of a common legal entity capable of supporting the Alliance beyond individual projects and funding cycles.
The Burgas meeting marked the second joint working session between the Legal Office and the Board of Rectors, following their first meeting in Dubrovnik in March. This continuity reflects the progressive approach adopted by EUNICoast: moving from the identification and assessment of possible legal models towards the definition of a concrete decision-making and implementation pathway.
Dubrovnik: assessing possible legal pathways
In Dubrovnik, the Legal Office presented the results of its preliminary work on the possible legal pathways available to the Alliance.
Based on the analysis of national legal frameworks and the experience of other European University Alliances, the discussion explored different legal families and focused on a fundamental question: what should an EUNICoast legal entity be designed to do?
The analysis considered its potential role as an operational structure able to contract, employ staff, manage projects and shared resources, while preserving the legal identity, academic competences and autonomy of each member university.
Association or foundation: the two models under review
The discussions held in Burgas represented a further step in this process. During the joint session with the Board of Rectors, the Legal Office, represented by Perrine Deporte and Arturo Sanabria, focused the discussion on the two legal models currently requiring deeper consideration, association and foundation, and their implications in terms of governance, financial management and long-term sustainability.
Choosing a host country: the key criteria
The analysis highlighted that the choice of legal form cannot be separated from the question of where the future entity will be established.
Consequently, the meeting also addressed the criteria that should guide the selection of a potential host country.
Legal and institutional flexibility, fiscal conditions, administrative and financial costs, capacity for cross-border operations, governance autonomy and practical implementation were identified as key dimensions for comparing possible jurisdictions through a common and transparent framework.
A roadmap towards 2028
A further important outcome of Burgas was the transition from analysis to implementation planning.
The Legal Office presented a timeline structured around a series of milestones leading towards 2028, with the objective of defining the legal model and host country, preparing the necessary founding documents and obtaining the relevant internal approvals before registration of the future entity.
Next steps agreed with the Board of Rectors
Following the joint session with the Rectors, the Legal Office translated these discussions into concrete next steps. These include identifying which EUNICoast members may be interested in hosting the entity, preparing country-specific information on establishment requirements and costs, refining the criteria and timetable for selecting the host country, and developing a catalogue of activities and services that the future entity could provide to Alliance members.
Parallel progress on Joint Degrees
The in-person meetings also provide the Legal Office with an opportunity to advance other key areas of its work within EUNICoast. In Burgas, particular attention was given to supporting WP2 teams in the development of the Alliance's Joint Degrees, as well as to coordinating the legal work required to accompany their progressive implementation.
From exploration to operational reality
Along this time, the work has therefore evolved from exploring what kind of legal entity EUNICoast could create to defining how the Alliance can make that choice and turn it into an operational reality.
The coming months will be devoted to providing the Board of Rectors with the legal, financial and organizational elements needed to take these strategic decisions and progressively move towards the establishment of the EUNICoast legal entity by 2028.
