PURPOSE: to establish a ‘technical support instrument’ for the period 2021-2027 to support Member States' efforts to implement the reforms necessary for economic and social recovery, resilience and convergence.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: the COVID-19 outbreak has changed the economic outlook for the coming years in the Union and the world. As lockdown measures are gradually being lifted, a strategic plan is needed for recovery, economic revitalisation and a return to sustainable growth.
In this respect, it is essential to set up a stand-alone instrument to accompany Member States in their reform efforts by providing substantial technical support to strengthen their administrative capacity to design and implement reforms that shall foster resilience and support recovery.
The Technical Support Instrument builds on the success of the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP), which has constantly experienced positive feedback from beneficiary Member States and excess demand in respect of the budgets available in the past selection rounds (e.g. for the 2020 round, of the 609 requests submitted, equating to a value of EUR 250 million, 228 amounting to EUR 84.7 million could be selected). The Instrument is also part of the Commission's initiatives in response to the COVID-19 outbreak to help Member States mitigate the massive economic and social consequences.
CONTENT: the proposed Regulation aims to establish a stand-alone Technical Support Instrument available to all Member States, as a successor to the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) 2017-2020.
Objectives
The technical support instrument shall encourage Member States, together with technical measures, to carry out institutional, administrative and growth sustaining and resilience-enhancing structural reforms.
Its specific objectives shall be to assist national authorities in improving their capacity to design, develop and implement reforms, including through the exchange of good practices, appropriate processes and methods and more effective and efficient human resource management. These objectives shall be pursued in close cooperation with the Member States concerned.
The instrument shall complement and add value to existing assistance provided by the different EU sectoral programmes and actions under EU funds. It should also provide technical support for the design and implementation of reforms to be carried out under the new Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Scope of application
This shall cover a broad range of policy domains that include areas related to public financial and asset management, institutional and administrative reform, business environment, product, service and labour markets, education and training, sustainable development, public health, education and the financial sector. Specific emphasis is given to actions that foster the green and digital transitions.
Implementation
The Commission shall analyse the requests for support on the basis of urgency, breadth and depth of the problems identified, support needs in respect of the policy area concerned, analysis of socioeconomic indicators and general administrative capacity of the Member State.
Based on that analysis and taking into account the existing measures and actions financed by other Union funds or Union programmes, the Commission shall come to an agreement with the Member State on the priority areas for support, the objectives, an indicative timeline, the scope of the support measures to be provided and the estimated global financial contribution, to be set out in a cooperation and support plan.
Provisions are made on communication activities vis-à-vis the European Parliament and the Council and vis-à-vis the general public, as well as provisions on complementarity, monitoring, annual reports and evaluation.
Budgetary implications
The financial envelope for the implementation of the Technical Support Instrument for the period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 864 406 000 (in current prices).
In addition to that financial envelope, Member States may transfer on voluntary basis, technical assistance resources under shared management programmes to the Technical Support Instrument.