CHAPTER I

This Regulation establishes a Technical Support Instrument (the ‘instrument’). It lays down the general objective and specific objectives of the instrument, the budget of the instrument for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027, the forms of Union funding and the rules for providing such funding. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: ‘technical support’ means measures that help national authorities to implement institutional, administrative and structural reforms that are sustainable and resilience-enhancing, strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion and support the public administration in the preparation of sustainable and resilience-enhancing investments; ‘national authority’ means one or more public authorities at the level of government, including those at regional and local level, as well as Member State organisations within the meaning of point (42) of Article 2 of the Financial Regulation, cooperating in a spirit of partnership in accordance with the Member States’ institutional and legal framework; ‘Union funds’ means the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund, the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument; ‘international organisation’ means an organisation within the meaning of Article 156 of the Financial Regulation and organisations assimilated to such an organisation pursuant to that Article; ‘European Semester for economic policy coordination’ or ‘European Semester’ means the process set out in Article 2-a of Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 1). ; ‘country-specific recommendations’ means the Council recommendations addressed to each Member State in accordance with Articles 121(2) and 148(4) TFEU in the context of the European Semester. The general objective of the instrument shall be to promote the Union’s economic, social and territorial cohesion by supporting Member States’ efforts to implement reforms. This is necessary to encourage investment, to increase competitiveness and to achieve sustainable economic and social convergence, resilience and recovery. This is also necessary to support Member States’ efforts to strengthen their institutional and administrative capacity, including at regional and local level, to facilitate socially inclusive, green and digital transitions, to effectively address the challenges identified in the country-specific recommendations and to implement Union law. To achieve the general objective set out in Article 3, the instrument shall have the specific objectives of assisting national authorities in improving their capacity to: design, develop and implement reforms; prepare, amend, implement and revise recovery and resilience plans pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/241. Those specific objectives shall be pursued in close cooperation with the Member States concerned, including through exchange of good practices, processes and methodologies, stakeholder involvement, where appropriate, and a more effective and efficient human resources management. The specific objectives set out in Article 4 shall refer to policy areas related to cohesion, competitiveness, education, productivity, research and innovation, smart, fair, sustainable and inclusive growth, jobs and investment, with specific emphasis on actions that foster the digital and just green transitions, and in particular focus on one or more of the following: public financial and asset management, budget process, including green and gender budgeting, macro-fiscal framework, debt and cash management, expenditure and tax policy, tax compliance, revenue administration and customs union, as well as fighting aggressive tax planning, tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance; institutional reform and efficient and service-oriented functioning of public administration and e-government, simplification of rules and procedures, auditing, enhancing capacity to absorb Union funds, promotion of administrative cooperation, effective rule of law, reform of the justice systems, capacity building of competition and antitrust authorities, strengthening of financial supervision and reinforcement of the fight against fraud, corruption and money laundering; business environment, including for small and medium-sized enterprises, the self-employed, entrepreneurs and social economy enterprises, the re-industrialisation and relocation of production to the Union, private sector development, product and service markets, public and private investments including into physical and virtual infrastructure, project promoters and nurseries, public participation in enterprises, privatisation processes, trade and foreign direct investment, competition, efficient and transparent public procurement, sustainable sectoral development, and support for research, innovation and digitisation; education, life-long learning and training, vocational education and training, youth policies, labour market policies, including social dialogue, for the creation of jobs, increased labour market participation of under-represented groups, up- and re-skilling in particular digital skills, media literacy, active citizenship, active ageing, gender equality, civil protection, border and migration policies, the promotion of social inclusion and the fight against poverty, income inequality and all forms of discrimination; accessible, affordable and resilient public healthcare, social security systems, care and welfare, and childcare; policies for the mitigation of climate change, the digital and just green transitions, e-government solutions, e-procurement, connectivity, data access and governance, data protection solutions, e-learning, use of Artificial Intelligence based solutions, the environmental pillar of sustainable development and environmental protection, climate action, transport and mobility, promoting the circular economy, energy and resource efficiency and renewable energy sources, achieving energy diversification, tackling energy poverty and ensuring energy security, and for the agricultural sector, soil and biodiversity protection, fisheries and the sustainable development of rural, remote and insular areas; financial sector policies and regulation, including financial literacy, financial stability, access to finance and lending to the real economy, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises, the self-employed and entrepreneurs; the production, provision and quality monitoring of data and statistics; preparation for membership of the euro area; and early detection of and a coordinated response to substantial public health or security risks, as well as ensuring business and service continuity for essential public and private institutions and sectors. The financial envelope for the implementation of the instrument for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 864000000 in current prices. The financial envelope for the instrument may also cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities which are required for the management of the instrument and the achievement of its objectives, in particular studies, meetings of experts, information and communication actions, including corporate communication of the political priorities of the Union, in so far as they are related to the objectives of this Regulation, expenses linked to IT networks focusing on information processing and exchange, including corporate information technology tools, and all other technical and administrative assistance expenses incurred by the Commission for the management of the instrument. Expenses may also cover the costs of other supporting activities such as quality control and monitoring of technical support projects on the ground and the costs of peer counselling and experts for the assessment and implementation of structural reforms. In addition to the financial envelope set out in paragraph 1, resources allocated to Member States under shared management may, at their request, and in accordance with the conditions and the procedure set out in a Regulation laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument, be transferred to the instrument for the purpose of financing clearly identified technical support requests, and transferred back if not committed. Those resources shall be used exclusively for the benefit of the Member State that requested the transfer, including at regional and local level. In addition to the technical support covered by the budget set out in Article 6, Member States may request additional technical support under the instrument and shall pay for the expenses pertaining to such additional support. The payments made by a Member State on the basis of paragraph 1 of this Article shall constitute external assigned revenue provided by the basic act in accordance with Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation and shall be used exclusively for the benefit of that Member State.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-06 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.