On Wednesday 22 July, the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) agreed their common position on the proposal for a regulation establishing a Technical Support Instrument for structural reforms in the Member States.
This new instrument, which will supersede the Support Instrument for structural reforms after 2020, will be activated by Member States on a case-by-case basis, and will help Member States to strengthen their administrative capacity by providing expertise on structural reforms using the annual socio-economic policy recommendations provided to EU countries at EU level (see EUROPE 12532/10). It will be specifically targeted at implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the instrument at the heart of the European Recovery Plan agreed by the European Council (see EUROPE 12532/2).
The position of the Council of the EU is very similar to the initial proposal, which formed part of the amended proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 that the European Commission tabled at the end of May. The most significant new development involves the opportunity for Member States to provide budgetary resources at national level in addition to those allocated to the proposed Support Instrument.
“This is a genuine change”, said a European source, referring to previous unsuccessful discussions about creating an opportunity of this nature within the context of the euro area’s fiscal capacity.
The Technical Support Instrument will be operational from 2021, and so is not expected to be used for preparing the initial national recovery plans this autumn. The current Support Instrument for structural reforms will be able to carry out this function.
The Council of the EU is now ready to negotiate an institutional political agreement on this Instrument with the European Parliament as soon as Parliament has agreed its negotiating position.
The text agreed by the Council of the EU can be found at: https://bit.ly/3hu20N0 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)