Considerations on COM(2020)409 - Technical Support Instrument - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2020)409 - Technical Support Instrument. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2020)409  |
| date | February 10, 2021 |
| (2) | Article 175 TFEU requires, inter alia, Member States to coordinate their economic policies in such a way as to attain the objectives on economic, social and territorial cohesion set out in Article 174 thereof. |
| (3) | The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 changed the economic and social outlook for the years to come in the Union and in the world. In the Union, new priorities have emerged, linked with the crisis, specifically focussing on recovery and resilience. Those priorities require an urgent and coordinated response from the Union in order to cope with the economic, social and health-related consequences for Member States as well as to mitigate the social and economic fallout. In particular, women have been hit especially hard by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 crisis, as well as the previous economic and financial crisis, has shown that developing sound and resilient economies and financial systems built on strong and sustainable economic and social structures helps Member States to respond more efficiently to shocks and to recover more swiftly from them. The need for preparedness of health systems, essential public services and effective social protection mechanisms was also clearly demonstrated. Growth-enhancing, sustainable, smart and socially responsible reforms and investments, sound fiscal policies and the creation of high-quality jobs to respond to the new challenges, address structural economic weaknesses and strengthen economic resilience will therefore be essential to setting the economy and society back on a sustainable recovery path and to overcoming the economic, social and territorial divergences in the Union. This should be done in the interest of the well-being of Union citizens and in accordance with relevant fundamental rights principles. |
| (4) | Regulation (EU) 2017/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) established the Structural Reform Support Programme for the period 2017 to 2020, with a budget of EUR 142 800 000 at the moment of adoption. The Structural Reform Support Programme was established to strengthen the capacity of Member States to prepare and implement growth-sustaining administrative and structural reforms, including through assistance for the efficient and effective use of the Union funds. Technical support under the Structural Reform Support Programme is provided by the Commission, upon request from a Member State, and can cover a wide range of policy areas. This Regulation is designed as a continuation of that programme, which has been positively received by Member States, while incorporating relevant adjustments. |
| (5) | Member States have increasingly taken up technical support under the Structural Reform Support Programme. Therefore, this Regulation should establish a technical support instrument with a view to continuing and enhancing support for Member States in the implementation of reforms (the ‘instrument’). |
| (6) | At Union level, the European Semester for economic policy coordination is the framework that identifies challenges and national reform priorities and monitors the implementation of those priorities. Member States also develop their own national multiannual investment strategies in support of those priorities in the context of the European Semester. Those strategies are presented alongside the yearly National Reform Programmes as a way to outline and coordinate priorities to be supported by national or Union funding. They should also serve as a means of using Union funding in a coherent manner and of maximising the added value of the financial support to be received in particular from the programmes supported by the Union under the structural and cohesion funds and from other programmes. With regard to the challenges identified in the context of European Semester, the instrument would have a clear added value in assisting Member States to enhance their capacity to effectively address the country-specific recommendations. |
| (7) | Reflecting the European Green Deal as the Union’s growth strategy and the translation of the Union’s commitments to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the instrument will contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal, the mainstreaming of climate actions and the achievement of the overall target of 30 % of Union budget expenditure supporting climate objectives and the ambition of providing 7,5 % of annual spending under the Multiannual Financial Framework to biodiversity objectives from 2024 and 10 % in 2026 and 2027, while considering the existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity objectives. Relevant actions should be identified during the instrument’s preparation and implementation and reassessed in the context of the relevant evaluations and review processes. The instrument should also tackle broader environmental and social challenges within the Union, including the protection of natural capital, preserving biodiversity and the support to the circular economy and the energy transition, in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The instrument should also support the digital transition and contribute to the creation of the Digital Single Market. |
| (8) | The general objective of the instrument should be to promote the Union’s economic, social and territorial cohesion by supporting Member States efforts to implement reforms. This is necessary to encourage public and private investments, support sustainable and fair economic and social recovery and convergence, achieve resilience, reduce poverty and inequality, promote gender equality, increase competitiveness, effectively address the challenges identified in the adopted country-specific recommendations and implement Union law. This is also necessary to support Member States’ efforts to strengthen their institutional and administrative capacity and judicial framework, including at regional and local level, and their efforts to implement policy objectives to facilitate socially inclusive, green and digital transitions, in accordance with the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Union’s 2030 climate and energy targets and climate neutrality by 2050 target, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Pillar of Social Rights. |
| (9) | The specific objectives of the instrument should be to assist national authorities in their endeavours to design, develop and implement reforms and to prepare, amend, implement and revise recovery and resilience plans pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), including through exchange of good practices, appropriate processes and methodologies, stakeholder involvement, where appropriate, and more effective and efficient human resources management. |
| (10) | In order to help Member States to design, develop and implement reforms in all the key economic and societal areas, the Commission should continue to provide technical support, upon request from a Member State, in a broad range of policy domains, which include areas related to public financial and asset management, institutional and administrative reform, judicial reform, business environment, the financial sector and improvement of financial literacy, markets for products, services and labour, education and training, gender equality, sustainable development, public health, social welfare and care, as well as early detection and coordinated response capabilities. Specific emphasis should be placed on actions that foster the green and digital transitions. The instrument should also support preparation for membership of the euro area. |
| (11) | This Regulation lays down a financial envelope for the instrument, which is to constitute the prime reference amount, within the meaning of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources (6), for the European Parliament and for the Council during the annual budgetary procedure. The annual appropriations should be authorised by the European Parliament and by the Council in the framework of the annual budgetary procedure, within the limits of the Multiannual Financial Framework and taking into account demand for the instrument. |
| (12) | In order to cater for additional needs under the instrument, Member States should have the possibility to transfer to the budget of the instrument resources programmed in shared management under Union funds and transfer back uncommitted resources, in accordance with a Regulation laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument. Transferred resources should be implemented in accordance with the rules of the instrument and should be used exclusively for the benefit of the Member State concerned. The Commission should provide feedback to that Member State on the use of the transferred resources. |
| (13) | In order to cater for additional needs under the instrument, a Member State should be able to request additional technical support and should pay for the expenses pertaining to such additional support. Such payments should constitute external assigned revenue in accordance with the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) (the ‘Financial Regulation’) and should be used exclusively for the benefit of that Member State. |
| (14) | Technical support should be provided on request, in order to support the implementation of reforms undertaken at the initiative of Member States, reforms in the context of economic governance processes, in particular those effectively addressing the country-specific recommendations or actions related to the implementation of Union law, and reforms in relation to the implementation of economic adjustment programmes. The instrument should also provide technical support for the preparation, amendment, implementation and revision of recovery and resilience plans pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241. |
| (15) | In line with the rules and practice already existing under the Structural Reform Support Programme, a light process for the submission of requests for technical support should be established. For that reason, requests by Member States should be submitted by 31 October unless otherwise specified in the additional dedicated calls for requests. Respecting the overarching principle of equal treatment, sound financial management and transparency, appropriate criteria for the analysis of the requests submitted by Member States should be laid down. Those criteria should be based on the urgency, severity and extent of the problems, as well as on the support needs identified in respect of the policy areas where technical support is envisaged. The Commission should organise additional dedicated calls in response to specific emerging needs of Member States, including, as a matter of priority, for the preparation, amendment, implementation and revision of recovery and resilience plans pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241. |
| (16) | Member States should be able, before requesting technical support, to consult, where appropriate, relevant stakeholders, such as local and regional authorities, social partners and civil society in accordance with national law and practices. |
| (17) | The content of the cooperation and support plans detailing the measures for the provision of technical support to Members States should also be specified. To that end, the technical support measures envisaged and the related estimated global financial contribution should take into account the actions and activities financed by Union funds or Union programmes. |
| (18) | For the purposes of accountability and transparency, and to ensure visibility of the Union action, subject to certain conditions that protect sensitive information, the Commission should transmit the cooperation and support plans simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. The Commission should be able to engage in communication activities. The Commission should publish on its website a list of approved requests for technical support. |
| (19) | In order to ensure greater transparency as regards technical input to the national decision-making process, the Commission should establish a single online public repository through which it should be able, subject to applicable rules and on the basis of consultation with the Member States concerned, to make available final studies or reports produced as part of eligible actions. In order to protect sensitive and confidential information related to their public interests, Member States should be able to request, where justified, that the Commission not disclose such documents without their prior agreement. |
| (20) | Provisions on the implementation of the instrument should be laid down, in particular the management modes, the forms of funding for the technical support measures and the content of work programmes, which should be adopted by way of implementing acts. In view of the importance of supporting the efforts of national authorities pursuing and implementing reforms, it is necessary to allow for a co-financing rate for grants of up to 100 % of the eligible costs. To allow for the rapid mobilisation of technical support in case of urgency, provision should be made for the adoption of special measures for a limited period. To that effect, a limited amount of the budget within the work programme of the instrument, not exceeding 30 % of the yearly allocation, should be set aside for special measures. |
| (21) | In order to ensure the efficient and coherent allocation of funds from the Union budget and to respect the principle of sound financial management, actions under this Regulation should be consistent with and be complementary to ongoing Union programmes. Double funding for the same expenditure should however be avoided. In particular and in order to avoid duplications or overlaps, the Commission and national authorities should ensure, in all stages of the process, effective coordination in order to safeguard consistency, coherence, complementarity and synergy between sources of funding, including the funding of technical assistance. |
| (22) | Pursuant to paragraphs 22 and 23 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (8), the instrument should be evaluated on the basis of information collected in accordance with specific monitoring requirements, while avoiding an administrative burden, in particular on Member States, and overregulation. Those requirements, where appropriate, should include measurable indicators as a basis for evaluating the effects of the instrument on the ground. |
| (23) | The Commission should provide an annual report simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of this Regulation. In addition, an independent mid-term evaluation, looking at the achievement of the objectives of the instrument, the efficiency of the use of its resources and its added value should be carried out. In that context, the European Parliament should be able to invite the Commission to participate in an exchange of views with the competent committee of the European Parliament to discuss the annual report and the implementation of the instrument. An independent ex post evaluation should, in addition, deal with the long-term impact of the instrument. |
| (24) | The work programmes for the implementation of technical support should be established. In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Horizontal financial rules adopted by the European Parliament and by the Council on the basis of Article 322 TFEU apply to this Regulation. Those rules are laid down in the Financial Regulation. They determine in particular the procedure for establishing and implementing the budget through grants, procurement, prizes and indirect implementation and provide for checks on the responsibility of financial actors. Rules adopted on the basis of Article 322 TFEU also include a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget. |
| (25) | In accordance with the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) and Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 (10), (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (11) and (EU) 2017/1939 (12), the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). In accordance with the Financial Regulation, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors, and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights. |
| (26) | Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives. |
| (27) | This Regulation should not affect the continuation or modification of support measures approved by the Commission by 31 December 2020 on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2017/825 or any other Union act applying to that assistance. Measures approved under Regulation (EU) 2017/825 should therefore remain valid. To that effect, a transitional provision should also be laid down. |
| (28) | In order to allow for the prompt application of the measures provided for in this Regulation, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, |