home overview funding

The Technical Support Instrument (TSI)

Target group

Government

Type of funding

Networking, No direct funding

Project type

Innovation, Networking, Dissemination

Area

Agriculture and forestry, Energy, Environment & Climate Action, Health, ICT Research & Innovation, Innovation, Security, Social Sciences and Humanities, Society

Info last updated 1 year ago

Summary

The TSI is the main EU funding programme providing technical support to EU Member States to support them in their reform agendas.

Budget

€864.4 million for the period 2021-2027

Official information source

https://ec.europa.eu/info/overview-funding-programmes/technical-support-inst...

Description

The Technical Support Instrument (TSI)

After months of intense work and negotiations, the new (TSI) regulation was published in the Official Journal on 18 February, entering into force on 19 February.

The TSI is the main EU funding programme providing technical support to EU Member States to support them in their reform agendas. As part of NextGenerationEU (NextGenEU), it can also be used by Member States for the development and implementation of their Recovery and Resilience plans.

The TSI takes over from the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) – with an increased budget of €864.4 million for the period 2021-2027.

Thanks to the dedication of the co-legislators in the Parliament and Council and the hard work of many colleagues in the Commission, this new instrument is now a reality.

DG REFORM welcomes the new regulation. Our support to reforms and capacity building in Member States continues strong. Together, through reforms, we will help ensuring recovery, resilience and growth.

About the TSI

The Technical Support Instrument (TSI) is the EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms. The support is demand driven and does not require co-financing from Member States. It is an important pillar of the EU’s initiative to help Member States mitigate the economic and social consequences of the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis.

Smart, sustainable and socially responsible reforms help to strengthen the resilience of our economies and societies. The TSI offers Member States a unique service to help them tackle reform challenges. The support can take the form of, for example, strategic and legal advice, studies, training and expert visits on the ground. It can cover any phase in the reform process. From preparation and design to development and implementation of the reforms.

The technical support is provided in a wide range of policy areas, including but not limited to climate action, digital transition and health. Member States can also request support to prepare, amend, implement and revise their national recovery and resilience plans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

By providing on the ground support to overcome reform challenges, the TSI helps Member States to recover from the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, to improve the quality of public services and to reinforce sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The TSI is the successor programme of the Structural Reform Support Programme (2017-2020) and builds on its experience in building capacity in Member States. The European Commission's Directorate-General forStructural Reform Support (DG REFORM) manages the TSI.

TSI support for reforms

starts with a request for support from an EU Member State

is tailor-made to address the country's needs

provides a unique combination of expertise from the European Commission, EU Member States’ national administrations, international organisations and/or the private sector

strengthens the capacity of an EU Member State to carry out reforms

requires no co-financing

Budget

€864 million for the period 2021-2027 (in current prices)

Types of support

EU Member States can request technical support under the TSI to:

implement resilience-enhancing reforms in the context of EU economic governance, such as those arising from country-specific recommendations under the European Semester and by virtue of implementing EU law
prepare, amend, implement and revise national recovery and resilience plans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
implement economic adjustment programmes
implement reforms undertaken at their own initiative

How does it work?

An EU Member State wishing to receive technical support submits a request to the Commission, via a national Coordinating Authority. This request must be submitted by 31 October of each year.

The Commission analyses the requests received and enters into dialogue with the national Coordinating Authorities to assess the country' specific needs and the options to support the design and implementation of the reforms.

Support may be provided directly through the Commission’s in-house expertise or with other providers of technical support:

experts from EU Member States' national administrations (TAIEX)
international organisations
private firms and consultancies
individual experts from the private sector

TAIEX-TSI Peer 2 Peer is an instrument managed in cooperation with the Directorate General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) to implement part of the TSI of DG REFORM. The instrument allows experts from national administrations to exchange expertise through expert missions, study visits and workshops. The instrument is only available for projects selected under the TSI.

Reform areas covered

The TSI provides technical support to Member States in a wide range of policy areas. These include:

Green transition (including climate action, circular economy and energy transition)
Digital transition
Health and long-term care
Skills, education and training
Governance and public administration
Competitiveness
Financial sector and access to finance
Revenue administration and public financial management
Labour market and social protection

Project in the spotlight

On a regular basis, the European Commission chooses a project to be its ‘project in the spotlight’. The featured projects, from different policy areas and in different countries, are selected on the basis of effective implementation, promising results on the ground as well as a potential to be replicated across the EU. In this way, the Commission seeks to encourage best practices.

This time, we feature a recent project in which the European Commission helped the Flanders Investment and Trade agency (FIT) become an artificial intelligence (AI)-ready organisation that can master modern technologies, modernise its services to businesses, and enhance its efficiency using modern technologies. As a result of the project, FIT has started implementing the recommendations in an ambitious way. With an enhanced importance of digitalisation in the recovery, this project is an example that can be used to encourage other EU Member States to take inspiration from.

Please see the video below to find out more about the project.

The dedicated news item is available here