We support Member States in making reforms that help to create jobs, improve the quality of public services and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
We collaborate with a wide range of partners to provide Member States with the technical expertise they need to achieve their reforms. In doing so, we aim to act as the catalysts: bringing together Member States so they can help each other and share good practices.
Our partnerships help us to ensure that the technical support we provide is of the highest quality and responds to the needs of the Member States.
EU Member States
Each Member State has a national coordinating authority within its government structures to facilitate efficient communication with the Commission and the coordinated submission of requests. The national coordinating authority acts as the Commission’s interlocutor for coordinating the implementation of reform support projects.
Member States’ national authorities can request technical support from the Commission to carry out their reform agendas. They can do so by submitting a technical support request to the Commission, through their national coordinating authority.
Regional and local authorities of Member States are also eligible for technical support from the Commission. Like national authorities, they submit their technical support request to the Commission through their national coordinating authority.
Providers of technical support
The expertise that Member States require can be available inside the European Commission. In that case, the Commission can decide to provide its in-house expertise directly to requesting Member States.
The Commission promotes the exchanges of best practices among Member States. The Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument (TAIEX) allows experts from national administrations to exchange expertise through expert missions, study visits and workshops.
We join forces with international organisations to provide Member States with high-quality technical expertise in a wide range of policy areas. In line with the EU Financial Regulation, pillar-assessed organisations can act under indirect management for the tasks they undertake to implement the actions.
We work together with the private sector to acquire specific and tailor-made expertise that Member States require to overcome reform obstacles. Technical support providers include, for example, consultancy companies and individual experts.
We collaborate with public bodies to provide Member States with technical expertise to carry out reforms.
EU institutions
Our work is framed by decisions from other EU institutions. In line with our legal base, we inform the Council and the European Parliament, inter alia, about the progress we make in implementing the Technical Support Instrument.
We coordinate our work with other Commission departments to make sure that our projects are aligned with wider EU policies and activities.