Technical Support Instrument - Performance

Programme in a nutshell

Concrete examples of achievements

Budget for 2021-2027

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Rationale and design of the programme

With the Technical Support Instrument, the European Commission supports Member States’ efforts to tackle reform challenges by offering them technical expertise to enhance their capacity to carry out reforms and to foster the exchange of good practices across the EU. The programme also supports the design and implementation of Member States’ recovery and resilience plans.

Budget

Budget programming (million EUR):

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  Financial programming:
  + EUR 0.4 million (+ 0%)
  compared to the legal basis*

^{* Top-ups pursuant to Art. 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.}

Budget performance – implementation

Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):

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Voted budget implementation (million EUR) ^(*):

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Contribution to horizontal priorities

Green budgeting

Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):

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• The programme has contributed to the green transition in the following ways.
  • EUR 64.4 million of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 budgets was devoted to projects covering climate mainstreaming, representing 7.4% of the 2021-2027 budget. 
  • The programme’s contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation increased in 2023. It was the second year that the programme assisted the Member States in the context of the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so there was increased demand for projects in this policy area. 
  • The programme provided support to Member States in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation, including for the preparation of long-term climate mitigation strategies.
  • The programme supported Member States wishing to design and implement reforms supporting building renovation and the EU renovation wave for a decarbonised and clean energy system. The program has mainly focused on five areas linked to the EU Renovation Wave: energy poverty, public buildings, renovation ecosystem, cohesion funding and governance. 
  • The programme also supported Member States in water-related reforms to ensure compliance with the water framework directive, the drinking water directive and the urban wastewater treatment directive, and to prepare action plans to increase the efficiency of water supply networks. For example, DG REFORM supported Croatia to reduce water losses in its networks and Hungary to harmonise and improve monitoring of water quality. DG REFORM also launched a project in Estonia on implementation of an action plan towards the long-term financial sustainability of water.
  • In line with the 2030-2035 EU waste management targets, the EU action plan for the circular economy and the zero pollution action plan, the programme helped Member States in improving waste management and transitioning towards a circular economy. For example, it helped Austria to increase the circularity of its raw material use and continued to help Cyprus and Romania for the improvement of their waste management.
  • The programme provided support for biodiversity protection, for example by helping Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands protect the migratory route of water birds. DG REFORM also supported Estonia in assessing the effectiveness of its conservation measures and continued to support Finland in fighting forest pest risks and Italy to enable green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.
  • The programme supported Member States to improve environmental enforcement, for example by continuing to support Portugal to improve its environmental inspections and permitting processes, and Austria to fight environmental crime.
• Due to its nature, the program is not covered by the EU taxonomy regulation for sustainable activities. None of the eligible actions for technical support listed in Article 8 of the technical support instrument regulation is aligned with the economic activities described in Annex 1 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139. Therefore, there is no taxonomy-relevant expenditure financed by the programme. 

Gender

Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):

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• In line with the principles of the gender equality strategy 2020-2025, TSI contributed to gender equality and equal opportunities for all and for the mainstreaming of these objectives. In 2023, TSI measures reported under score 0* included a budget of EUR 103 million. 
• Under TSI 2023, the programme financed interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender mainstreaming for a value of EUR 18 million, falling under gender score 2. For example, since 2022 specific support is provided to seven Member States under the ‘Gender mainstreaming in public policy and budget processes’ flagship. This flagship aims at helping the Member States, at the national, regional and local levels, to practically improve gender equality within their budgets, as is also expected in the context of the recovery and resilience plans and other EU funds and programmes. The project supports the introduction of gender mainstreaming tools in various sectors and promotes ongoing training and capacity development for administrations to improve their technical competence and implement gender policies effectively. In particular, support is provided, inter alia, for reviewing institutional arrangements, collecting and using gender-specific data, integrating gender considerations into public procurement, consolidating effective gender-responsive budgeting practices and implementing gender impact assessments. 

Digital

Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):

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• The programme provided support towards Member States’ digital transition in several projects, in line with the Europe fit for the digital age action plan and the ‘2030 digital compass: the European way for the digital decade’ communication.  
  • In 2023, TSI continued to expand the work of supporting Member States in the financial sector through projects aimed at the preparation and implementation of growth-enhancing administrative and structural reforms. Several projects were delivered in the areas of digitalisation of financial markets, sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, financial literacy, reinforcing financial stability, improving consumer protection and business practices, insolvency and the effective and uniform implementation of sanctions. One specific example is the ‘National Financial Literacy Strategy for Greece’ project, which will enable Greek citizens to make effective and sustainable financial decisions and use traditional and innovative financial services safely. 
  • The programme also supported Member States’ transition towards e-government and digital public administration, for example increasing the capacity of the Dutch competent authorities to supervise artificial intelligence, digital-ready legislation in Denmark, establishing a statistical interoperability node in Spain and supporting open government in Greece.  
  • The programme is also supporting the digital transition to improve efficiency of different economic and policy sectors such labour market and employment (developing employment services for economically inactive people), the health systems (improving interoperability) or the business competitiveness (reducing administrative burden).  
• The TSI programme uses other digital intervention fields that are different from the Digital Economy and Society Index dimensions for estimating the budget contribution to the digital transition. TSI digital transition projects report to ‘Digital Public Support – table 8’, intervention field 144 ‘Actions supporting the implementation of Digital policy, including supporting the Network of National Contact Points, policy information system, technical support to national and local governments and administrations, as well as studies/analyses to understand the social, health, environmental consequences of the digital transition of economy and society’. The total contributions were EUR 18.5 million for 2021, EUR 28.1 million for 2022 and EUR 40.5 million for 2023. 

Budget performance – outcomes

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• In 2023, 98% of the Member State requests selected concern support for implementing reforms that will help to achieve strategic policy priorities, as set out under the European semester framework for policy coordination. This includes tailor-made support for the amendment, implementation and revision of recovery and resilience plans under the Recovery Resilience Facility or under EU-wide policy initiatives such as the Green Deal, the single market strategy, the digital single market, the energy union, the capital markets union, the European Pillar of Social Rights, or support for the implementation of EU law and the better regulation agenda. It also includes actions and activities in support of reforms that may help Members States prepare for joining the euro area. The remaining requests refer to Member State reforms to support recovery, sustainable economic growth, job creation to enhance resilience and public administration and governance coordination. 
• Overall, the TSI priorities for 2023 reflected all 10 areas set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2021/240 establishing the Technical Support Instrument. Despite the fact that TSI projects are independent from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, TSI also supported Member States in the amendment, implementation and revision of recovery and resilience plans under the facility. 
• The programme supports Member States’ efforts to design and implement resilience-enhancing reforms. It also continued to contribute to the EU’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, improving the quality of public services and helping to get the Member States back on the path of sustainable and inclusive growth. The programme directly and indirectly supports Member States for the implementation of their recovery and resilience plans.  
• In the 2024 programme round, 27 Member States submitted 604 requests for support with a total estimated value of EUR 294 million. DG Structural Reform Support identified 170 projects for funding, covering 307 selected technical support requests. The selection followed a thorough prioritisation exercise carried out according to the programme regulation and a wide consultation of 17 Commission departments to find synergies and complementarities and avoid overlaps with other programmes.  
• In 2023, together with other Commission services, DG Structural Reform Support proposed pre-identified EU policy areas of potential support to Member States, namely the ‘flagship technical support projects’, which are aimed at streamlining EU policies on top of the traditional tailor-made requests from Member States. At the same time, the DG gives Member States the possibility of making multi-country technical support requests, to enhance mutual learning on the one hand, and to help a maximum number of Member States on the other hand with their reforms.  
• It has to be underlined that TSI is a very flexible programme, on which Member States can always rely for specific emerging needs, e.g. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.  
• It is estimated that over 63% of projects selected under the 2023 programme contribute to the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans. In 2023, 27 Member States were benefiting from general support for their plans. This allows public administrations to set up the right mechanisms and build their capacity to implement and monitor their plans across all its components.  
• The programme also helped to strengthen horizonal priorities such as the green and digital transitions in the Member States.  

Green transition 

• In 2023, TSI supported the mainstreaming of climate and biodiversity objectives and helped improve Member States’ preparedness to reach climate and energy objectives, in particular climate neutrality by 2050. Actions included, among others: strengthen climate adaptation, promote climate mitigation and protect biodiversity; enhance policy coherence and alignment of EU funds and programmes with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle; support the integration of sustainability considerations in the budget processes of Member States; re-direct private and public capital flows towards climate and environmental action, also in support of other EU instruments (e.g. InvestEU programme, Just Transition Mechanism, Recovery and Resilience Facility); integrate and mitigate risks stemming for the climate and environmental transition in the financial sector; implement green taxation reforms; and design holistic strategies engaging the regional, local and wider community on the changes needed for a successful transition. 
• As far as climate change mitigation and adaptation is concerned, DG REFORM defined a flagship technical support project on climate adaptation and continued the support towards the preparation of a long-term climate mitigation strategies and pathways to achieve carbon neutrality, for instance in Czechia and Romania. DG REFORM also assisted the Member States in the prevention of climate-induced disasters, for example with the prevention of wildfires in Portugal, and helped Poland prepare a revised climate adaptation strategy. In Malta, DG REFORM continued to provide support on coastal protection. 
• In 2023, TSI helped 17 Member States to identify reforms and investments to phase out their reliance on Russian fossil fuels with the ‘Supporting rEPowerEU: affordable, secure and sustainable energy for Europe’ project. The areas of technical support included: faster permitting for renewable energy, energy efficiency and building renovation, hydrogen, biomethane, diversification of gas supply and industry decarbonisation. Both the diversification of supply and the use of renewable energy will contribute to achieve the green transition and to reduce the price of energy, for the benefit of citizens and businesses.  

Digital transition 

• In 2023, TSI supported the digital transition in the Member States via its ‘Digital transformation for regional and local public administrations’ flagship project. The project aimed at helping EU regional and local authorities design and implement structural reforms in the field of digital public administration. It targets three areas that are highly relevant for regional and local administrations: (i) sustainable connectivity, including cybersecurity; (ii) development of smart cities; and (iii) interconnectedness with digital systems used by other authorities, including in other Member States. The impact of the project includes the acceleration of the digital transition in the Member States through the implementation of EU digital strategies (such as the 2030 Digital Decade or the ‘once-only’ principle) at the regional and local levels, the enhancement of digital administration at the regional and local levels with an improved quality of digital services for citizens/businesses and an increased socioeconomic attractiveness of regions. 
• In 2023, DG REFORM also implemented a project to support the Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure to speed up and set up proper supervision of artificial intelligence systems in compliance with the forthcoming AI Act and other relevant legislation. The ‘Supervising Artificial Intelligence by Competent Authorities’ project provided support to the Dutch authority in their endeavour to supervise artificial intelligence, thereby ensuring greater adherence to existing and upcoming legislation on artificial intelligence. It not only delivered comprehensive knowledge on existing practices of artificial intelligence supervision and a set of other good practices and supervision scenarios, but also practical pathways and on-the-ground assistance for the Dutch authority to supervise artificial intelligence. The Dutch authority chairs both the European and Dutch Working groups of Competent Authorities on AI. In addition to directly supporting the Dutch authority, the project also engaged other EU competent authorities to collectively address the complex and varied challenges associated with supervising artificial intelligence technologies. 

• In 2023, the programme also focused on reinforcing its collaboration with Member States and among the Commission services to further advance the work on public administration and governance. The expert group on public administration and governance gathers representatives from public administrations in the Member States to discuss common challenges and ways to address them. Additionally, in 2023 TSI launched a new initiative to foster exchanges among civil servants of different Member States – the ‘Public Administration Cooperation Exchange’ project. Under this initiative, civil servants have the possibility to work for short period in other Member States to strengthen administrative capacity, as well as policymaking and implementation skills. In its first year, 300 civil servants from 18 Member States are participating. Thanks to this exchange, participants can learn from the working methods and culture of other EU public administrations in selected areas, such as the green and digital transitions, the management of EU instruments, the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies, and human resources management. This programme is contributing to shape the next generation of civil servants across the EU. 
• In the area of good governance, DG Structural Reform Support supported several Member States in strengthening their policymaking through new methodologies and tools. For example, in Italy the 2022 TSI project ‘Reinforcing multi-level policy coordination for integration in Italy’ is contributing to strengthening the coordination mechanisms and enhancing the fundamental role played by all levels of authorities for the integration and labour market inclusion of migrants. In the long term, the project is expected to enhance central coordination of the state with regional and local authorities, and thus reduce regional and social disparities. 
• The programme has supported Member States in the field of migration. In 2022, the programme has been supporting 14 Member States to improve migrants’ access to essential services such as health or school education or to facilitate access to jobs. Out of these, nine Member States benefited from urgent support with welcoming and integrating persons displaced to the EU, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, under the dedicated programme call launched in April 2022. With the ‘Accelerating access to essential services for displaced Ukrainians in Romania’ project, the Commission, together with the World Bank as implementing partner, has been providing support to the Romanian Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations and Ministry of Education since July 2022 to (i) support Romanian authorities in accelerating access and improving the delivery of assistance services for people fleeing Ukraine in order to ensure their better integration, and (ii) assist and advise the Ministry of Education to speed up and improve access to education and psychosocial support services for Ukrainian children displaced in Romania. 
• In 2023, nine Member States benefited from TSI support to welcome and integrate persons fleeing Ukraine, as a consequence of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. For example, in order to help the expansion of the integration centres for foreigners, TSI provided support to identify the most suitable EU funding opportunities. The projects helped to improve refugees’ integration and the adaptation of school curricula to the needs of displaced pupils from Ukraine, as for example the 2022 TSI ‘Supporting the development of a national coordination mechanism for recognising refugees’ qualifications in Italy’ project. Furthermore, TSI is helping with access to the labour market through the recognition of skills and qualifications acquired outside the EU. While enabling refugees’ access to qualified jobs, the recognition of skills helps EU employers to fill jobs shortages. 
• The programme has supported Member States in the field of public financial management by helping them improve the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of public spending. The programme has supported Member States in the field of revenue administration by helping them to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of their tax and customs administrations. To fight cross-border tax fraud, evasion and avoidance, in 2023 the Commission’s technical support contributed to enhancing the exchange of tax information among seven Member States. By providing the necessary tools, skills and expertise, the Technical Support Instrument has enhanced the capacity to safeguard fiscal revenues for the benefit of EU citizens and businesses. 
• The flagship ‘Enhancing the quality and use of tax information exchanged between Member States in the context of the directive on administrative cooperation’ was targeted at Member States wishing to improve their fight against cross-border tax fraud, evasion and avoidance through a better use of tax information exchanged between Member States in the context of the directive. This project identified three work packages, each with its own set of deliverables tailored to each Member State: (i) data quality of outgoing tax information; (ii) use of incoming tax information; and (iii) performance monitoring and evaluation of tax information. This flagship project is well-aligned with the policy areas under pillar 5 of the Recovery and Resilience Facility – health, economic, social and institutional resilience.  
• In 2023, TSI contributed to spur the competitiveness of 12 Member States’ industrial ecosystems. Member States made use of the technical support in drafting their industrial strategies and action plans. The technical support also laid the groundwork for strengthening market surveillance at the national level, improving intellectual property frameworks and mapping the skills needs of both the industry workforce and entrepreneurs. Moreover, TSI contributed to bolster the EU mining regional ecosystems to secure mineral raw materials supply. TSI also helped seven Member States to build more sustainable, resilient and digital tourism ecosystems, with the objective of rebooting tourism across the EU and making it more resilient in the global market, as for example in Croatia with the ‘Support to Croatia’s tourism ecosystem: towards a more sustainable, resilient and digital tourism’ project. 
• n the field of education and training, the programme supported Member States in designing new skills strategies and learning frameworks, along with governance and monitoring mechanisms of national action plans in the area of digital education. The programme also helped Member States render their education systems more inclusive and equitable while improving the impact of curriculum reforms (Croatia, Lithuania) and raise the quality of early childhood education and care (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Austria). DG REFORM worked with Spain, Italy, Portugal and Romania on a multi-country project aimed to make their education systems more inclusive for disadvantaged pupils, children with disabilities and for those with a migrant background. The technical support encompassed exchanges of knowledge and good practices among Member States and contributed to draft tailor-made recommendations. For example, TSI contributed to develop an early warning system that enables schools and education authorities to identify students with specific needs and support them in a timely and appropriate way with the ‘Tackling early school leaving in Romania’ project. 
• In 2023, DG REFORM provided support to Spain in developing a strategy for enhancing the labour market inclusion and participation of skilled migrants. The project was supported by a centralised online platform connecting administrations, employers and migrants. The strategy targets talent attraction from non-EU countries and labour market participation of migrants already in Spain, while the digital platform facilitates the matching between skilled migrants and employers seeking workers with skills that are currently in short supply in Spain. This innovative approach could inspire other Member States in the context of the EU talent pool. 
• In the area of health, the programme supported Member States on reforms targeting access to and quality of primary care, workforce health, health information systems, health system performance assessments, telemedicine solutions, e-health national strategies, cancer prevention strategies and digital skills of the health and care workforce. The TSI helped Belgium, Austria and Slovenia make a more strategic and efficient use of EU funds to enable the healthcare sector’s development and put innovation at the heart of their health systems. Through the ‘health hub’, the Member States can identify the best funding opportunities to undertake key reforms for the benefit of citizens. In the long run, the health hub will also help national and regional governments to underpin economic investments in this sector. Building on its promising results, this project can be scaled up to the EU level. 
• In 2023 the Commission continued helping Member States to bolster their national capital markets. So far, 21 Member States have benefited from TSI in this field, as for example Czechia, with the ‘Access to capital market financing for Czech Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ project. Reforms contributed to removing regulatory barriers to investments and tackling market inefficiency. The objective of these reform projects is to increase investment opportunities, bring higher market visibility for businesses, and help small and medium-sized enterprises to access bank credit. 
• During its first 2 years, the EU Supervisory Digital Finance Academy has been gathering 37 national authorities from 26 Member States, hosting more than 1 000 participants from across the EU, thanks to TSI. This project is helping national authorities to seize the opportunities of innovative technologies and digital applications in the financial sector, while supporting them to cope with the risks. By enhancing the skills of the national regulators and supervisors’ staff, the academy will strengthen consumer protection and create opportunities to develop innovative, efficient and inclusive financial products for consumers and businesses across the EU. 
• Following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, TSI has been helping Czechia, Latvia and Malta to maximise the effectiveness of economic sanctions against Russia. In 2023, his project helped national authorities to identify people and entities related to Russia’s regime, in order to freeze their assets. It also contributed to prevent attempts to circumvent these sanctions through crypto currencies. Building on the results so far, nine additional Member States have requested to work together with the Commission to further improve the implementation of sanctions. 
• Of particular importance was the programme support for the national recovery and resilience plans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In 2023, all Member States benefited from TSI for the implementation of their recovery and resilience plans. So far, more than 400 technical support projects have been instrumental in implementing the national plans. Member States benefited from TSI to enhance central aspects of the plans’ implementation, such as project management, monitoring, communication, governance, information technology and compliance with the EU Green Deal objectives. TSI has also contributed to the implementation of thematic reforms relating to the plans in crucial areas, such as the green and digital transitions and skills, along with gender equality and equal opportunities for all. 
• In 2023, DG Structural Reform Support developed a robust set of communication initiatives to put the programme in the spotlight, such as the organisation of its third annual conference, with the participation of high-level representatives from the European Commission, Member States and other institutions. Even though the conference was online, the aim was to create an experience that was closer to following an in-person event rather than a sequence of presentations. The conference, which attracted more than 1 600 unique online viewers, highlighted the way TSI supports Member States for the successful design and implementation of resilience-enhancing reforms. It presented policy and technical/practical information and expertise on a range of topics relating to the central thematic area ‘Public Administration fit for the future and adaptable to change’, and on the functioning of ongoing and prospective TSI projects and flagship projects for 2024.  

Exploiting synergies among horizontal priorities in TSI 

• Most of the 2023 TSI projects build on different horizontal priorities at the same time, something that happens in a natural way. A specific example of a project exploiting synergies between the digital and green horizontal priorities is the 2023 TSI ‘Professionalisation of public procurement personnel: fostering strategic methodologies, integrity and transparency’ flagship project, which aims at developing tools to use strategic and innovative procurement methodologies., including green procurement criteria and e-procurement tools. 
• Another specific example is the 2023 TSI ‘PACE – Public Administration Cooperation Exchange’ flagship project, aiming at promoting cooperation and cross-border exchanges among Member States to build administrative capacity and prepare the next generation of policymakers in the EU. The project will touch upon different EU priorities, such as green transformation and investment management. The project is a clear example of how some TSI projects are of a horizontal nature, promoting synergies and stimulating cross-cutting learning paths in local and national administrations. 

Sustainable development goals

Contribution to the sustainable development goals