WIREDGOV

Yesterday's vote paves the way towards the roll-out of the technical expertise the Commission provides for supporting Member States as they carry out reforms that help economies to grow, strengthen competitiveness, encourage investment and offer job opportunities and a better standard of living.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union said: "Today's vote paves the way for the EU to expand its technical support service providing dedicated, tailor-made expertise to help Member States design and implement important growth-enhancing reforms, on their request. There is a clear need to effectively address stubborn challenges holding back a stronger and stable economic recovery including high unemployment, low productivity and persistent disparities in growth and income across the EU. To do so requires modern, reformed economies, and institutional and administrative structures, underpinned by political will and technical knowhow. This is what the new EU programme helps to achieve."

The programme has a budget of EUR 142.8 million over the years 2017-2020 and will require no co-financing from Member States. It will be managed by the Commission's Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS), which was set up in July 2015 under the political guidance of Vice-President Dombrovskis. The service coordinates and provides technical expertise in the implementation of important structural reforms, many of which are set out the in EU's country-specific recommendations to Member States. The service is demand-driven and provides support upon request by a Member State.

Examples of areas where technical support is provided are:

• Promoting good governance, reforming the judiciary, rule of law, anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering and anti-fraud activities
• Improving revenue administration, public financial management and the management of public assets
• Modernising public administration and tax administration including fighting tax evasion;
• Improving the business and investment climate;
• Reforms related to energy and climate;
• Reforms related to education;
• Labour and social policies including making the healthcare sector more efficient and encouraging more social inclusion;
• Financial sector and access to finance, reforms related to the capital markets union;
• Managing migration and border control.

For More Information

Structural Reform Support Service

Speech by Vice-President Dombrovskis in the European Parliament plenary on 26 April 2017

Press release - 8 February 2017: Political agreement reached on Structural Reform Support Programme – a new tool to help Member States implement reforms