Eligible actions for technical support
To pursue the objectives set out in Articles 3 and 4, the instrument shall finance, in particular, the following types of action:
(a)
the provision of expertise related to policy advice, policy change, formulation of strategies and reform roadmaps, as well as to legislative, institutional, structural and administrative reforms;
(b)
the short-term or long-term provision of experts, including resident experts, to perform tasks in specific domains or to carry out operational activities, where necessary with interpretation, translation and cooperation support, administrative assistance and infrastructure and equipment facilities;
(c)
institutional, administrative or sectoral capacity building and related supporting actions at all governance levels, also contributing to the empowerment of civil society, including social partners, as appropriate, in particular:
(i)
seminars, conferences and workshops, with, where appropriate, stakeholder involvement;
(ii)
exchanges of best practices, including, where appropriate, working visits to relevant Member States or third countries to enable officials to acquire or increase their expertise or knowledge in relevant matters;
(iii)
training actions and the development of online or other training modules to support the necessary professional skills and knowledge relating to the relevant reforms;
(d)
the collection of data and statistics, development of common methodologies, including on gender and climate mainstreaming and tracking, and, where appropriate, indicators or benchmarks;
(e)
the organisation of local operational support in areas such as asylum, migration and border control;
(f)
IT capacity building, including expertise related to development, maintenance, operation and quality control of the IT infrastructure and applications needed to implement the relevant reforms, cybersecurity, open source software and hardware solutions, data protection solutions as well as expertise related to programmes geared towards the digitalisation of public services, in particular in services such as healthcare, education or the judiciary;
(g)
the carrying out of studies, including feasibility studies, research, analyses and surveys, evaluations and impact assessments, including gender impact assessments, and the development and publication of guides, reports and educational material;
(h)
the establishment and execution of communication projects and strategies for learning including e-learning, cooperation, awareness raising, dissemination activities and exchange of good practices, organisation of awareness-raising and information campaigns, media campaigns and events, including corporate communication and, where appropriate, communication through social networks or platforms;
(i)
the compilation and publication of materials to disseminate information and the results of technical support provided under the instrument, including through the development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools using information and communication technologies; and
(j)
any other relevant activity in support of the general objective and specific objectives set out in Articles 3 and 4 respectively.
Request for technical support
1. Member States wishing to receive technical support under the instrument shall submit a request for technical support to the Commission, identifying the policy areas and the priorities for support within the scope as set out in Article 5. Such requests shall be submitted by 31 October unless otherwise specified in the additional dedicated calls for requests referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article. The Commission may provide guidance on the main elements to be included in the request for technical support.
2. In order for the reforms pursued by Member States to gather wide support and ownership, Member States wishing to receive technical support under the instrument may consult, where appropriate, relevant stakeholders before requesting technical support, in accordance with national law and practices.
3. Members States may submit a request for technical support in circumstances linked to:
(a)
the implementation of reforms by Member States, undertaken on their own initiative and in accordance with the general objective and specific objectives set out in Articles 3 and 4 respectively;
(b)
the implementation of growth-sustaining and resilience-enhancing reforms in the context of economic governance processes, in particular the country-specific recommendations issued in the context of the European Semester or actions related to the implementation of Union law;
(c)
the implementation of economic adjustment programmes for Member States that receive Union financial assistance under existing instruments, in particular in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 472/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 15 ) as regards the Member States whose currency is the euro and Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 ( 16 ) as regards Member States whose currency is not the euro;
(d)
the preparation, amendment and revision of recovery and resilience plans pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 and the implementation thereof undertaken by Member States.
4. The Commission shall organise additional dedicated calls for requests in response to specific emerging needs of Member States, such as for the submission of requests linked to the circumstances referred to in point (d) of paragraph 3.
5. Taking into account the principles of transparency, equal treatment and sound financial management and further to a dialogue with the Member States, including in the context of the European Semester, the Commission shall analyse the request for support referred to in paragraph 1 based on the urgency, breadth and depth of the challenges identified, support needs in respect of the policy areas concerned, analysis of socioeconomic indicators and institutional and general administrative capacity of the Member States concerned.
Based on that analysis and taking into account the existing actions and measures financed by Union funds or other Union programmes, the Commission and the Member States concerned shall agree 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 for such technical support, which shall be set out in a cooperation and support plan (the ‘cooperation and support plan’).
6. The cooperation and support plan shall identify, separately from other technical support, the measures linked to the recovery and resilience plans for Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241.
Information to the European Parliament and to the Council and communication regarding cooperation and support plans
1. The Commission shall transmit, with the consent of the Member State concerned, the cooperation and support plan simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council without undue delay. The Member State concerned may refuse to give such consent in the case of sensitive or confidential information the disclosure of which would jeopardise public interests of the Member State.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the Commission shall transmit the cooperation and support plan to the European Parliament and to the Council:
(a)
as soon as the Member State concerned has redacted all sensitive or confidential information, the disclosure of which would jeopardise the public interests of the Member State;
(b)
after a reasonable period, when the disclosure of relevant information would not adversely affect the implementation of the support measures, and in any case no later than two months after the implementation of such measures under the cooperation and support plan.
3. The Commission may engage in communication activities to ensure the visibility of Union funding for support measures envisaged in the cooperation and support plans, including through joint communication activities with the national authorities and the representation offices of the European Parliament and of the Commission in the Member State concerned. The Commission shall publish on its website a list of approved requests for technical support and shall regularly update that list. The Commission shall regularly inform the representation offices of the European Parliament and of the Commission of projects in the Member States concerned.
Complementary funding
Actions financed under the instrument may receive support from other Union programmes, instruments or funds under the Union budget provided that such support does not cover the same costs.
Implementation of the instrument
1. The Commission shall implement the instrument in accordance with the Financial Regulation.
2. The measures under the instrument may be implemented either directly by the Commission or, indirectly, by persons or entities in accordance with Article 62(1) of the Financial Regulation. In particular, Union support for actions pursuant to Article 8 of this Regulation shall take the form of:
(a)
grants;
(b)
public procurement contracts;
(c)
reimbursement of costs incurred by external experts, including experts from the national, regional or local authorities of Member States providing or receiving support;
(d)
contributions to trust funds set up by international organisations; and
(e)
actions carried out through indirect management.
3. Grants may be awarded to the national authorities, the European Investment Bank group, international organisations, public or private bodies and entities legally established in:
(a)
Member States;
(b)
European Free Trade Association countries which are party to the European Economic Area Agreement, in accordance with the conditions laid down therein.
The co-financing rate for grants shall be up to 100 % of the eligible costs.
4. Technical support may be provided with the cooperation of other Member State entities and international organisations.
5. Technical support may also be provided by individual experts, who may be invited to contribute to selected activities organised wherever that is necessary for the achievement of the specific objectives set out in Article 4.
6. In order to implement the technical support, the Commission shall adopt work programmes by way of implementing acts and inform the European Parliament and the Council thereof.
Work programmes shall set out:
(a)
the allocation for the instrument;
(b)
the measures referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, in accordance with the general objective and specific objectives referred to in Articles 3 and 4 of this Regulation, respectively, and within the scope referred to in Article 5 and eligible actions set out in Article 8 of this Regulation; and
(c)
the selection and award criteria for grants and all the elements required by the Financial Regulation.
7. To ensure the timely availability of resources, a limited part of the work programme, not exceeding 30 % of the yearly allocation, shall be reserved for special measures in the event of unforeseen and duly justified grounds of urgency requiring an immediate response, including a serious disturbance in the economy or significant circumstances seriously affecting the economic, social or health conditions pertaining in a Member State and going beyond its control.
The Commission may, on request from a Member State wishing to receive technical support, adopt special measures in accordance with the objectives and actions set out in this Regulation to provide technical support to national authorities in addressing urgent needs. Such special measures shall be interim in nature and shall be linked to the circumstances laid down in Article 9(3). Such special measures shall end within six months of their adoption and may be replaced by technical support in accordance with the conditions set out in Article 9.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
