REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Technical Support Instrument Annual Report 2021 and Annual Report 2022
Date: 2024-01-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU aid, EU financial instrument, EU financing arrangements, activity report, coronavirus disease, economic and social cohesion, economic recovery, epidemic, structural adjustment

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 29.1.2024  COM(2024) 40 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Technical Support Instrument Annual Report 2021  and Annual Report 2022 {SWD(2024) 17 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Technical Support Instrument Annual Report 2021  
and Annual Report 2022 

The Technical Support Instrument1 (TSI) is the EU programme that since 2021 provides 
tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms. Its 
general objective is to promote the EU’s economic, social and territorial cohesion by supporting 
Member States in implementing the reforms needed to achieve economic and social recovery, 
resilience and upward economic and social convergence. The TSI builds on the success of its 
predecessor, the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) for 2017-20202, and draws on a 
significantly higher budget. 

Managed by the European Commission’s DG REFORM, the TSI is available to any Member 
State  facing  challenges  in  the  process  of  designing  and  implementing  reforms.  This  includes 
reforms that aim to overcome the challenges identified in the European Semester process of 
economic policy coordination, EU priorities, or reforms undertaken at a Member State’s own 
initiative. The budget for the TSI does not pre-allocate funds by Member State or by policy 
area. 

The TSI provides technical support to Member States in a wide range of policy areas. These 
include  public  financial  and  asset  management,  institutional  and  administrative  reform,  the 
business environment, the financial sector, markets for products, services and labour, education 
and  training,  sustainable  development,  health,  and  social  welfare.  It  focuses  on  action  that 
contributes to the green and digital transitions. The TSI can also support  work to prepare and 
implement national recovery and resilience plans3 (RRP). 

The TSI does not require co-financing from Member States. Its overall budget under the 2021-
2027 multiannual financial framework is EUR 864.4 million (Figure 1). In addition, Member 
States may and have requested additional technical support via a direct contribution4 or as part 
of their recovery and resilience plans. 

2021 

116.4 

2022 

118.7 

2023 

121.1 

2024 

123.5 

2025 

126.0 

2026 

128.5 

2027 

130.4 

Total 

864.4 

Figure 1 - TSI budget programming 2021-2027 (million euro) 

Smart, sustainable, and socially responsible reforms help strengthen the resilience of Member 
States’  economies  and  societies.  The  TSI  offers  beneficiary  authorities  in  Member  States  a 

1 Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 February 2021 establishing a 
Technical Support Instrument, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 1–16 (the “TSI Regulation”). 
2 Regulation (EU) 2017/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 on the establishment 
of the Structural Reform Support Programme for the period 2017 to 2020 and amending Regulations (EU) No 
1303/2013 and (EU) No 1305/2013, OJ L 129, 19.5.2017, p. 1–16 (the “SRSP Regulation”). 
3 Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the 
Recovery and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17–75 (the “RRF Regulation” , Article 7.2. 
4 TSI Regulation, Article 7. 

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unique project-based service to help them tackle reform challenges. Support can take the form of 
– for example – strategic and legal advice, studies, training, and expert visits, with each project 
combining more than one form of support. It can be used at any phase in the reform process from 
preparation and design to development and implementation. The TSI therefore strengthens the 
institutional and administrative capacity of EU Member States. It is tailor-made and brings 
to  each  project  a  unique  combination  of  expertise  provided  through  the  European 
Commission’s in-house expertise, experts from EU Member State national administrations (e.g. 
via  TAIEX,  the  Technical  Assistance  and  Information  Exchange  instrument  of  the  European 
Commission5),  international  organisations  or  the  private  sector.  When  external  private-sector 
expertise  is  needed,  the  Commission  contracts  in  external  expertise  via  direct  or  indirect 
management6. DG REFORM staff is fully involved throughout the process of implementing each 
project. 

By providing on-the-ground support to overcome reform challenges and to stimulate sustainable 
and inclusive growth, the TSI helps Member States recover from the social and economic effects 
of  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  tackle  the  impacts  of  Russia's  aggression  against  Ukraine,  and 
improve the quality of public services. 

The TSI is a demand-driven financing instrument organised in yearly cycles. The aim is to 
support the highest quality requests submitted by Member States to tackle EU-level and national 
priorities. It runs general calls for requests with the deadline for submissions on 31 October. 

The Commission can also organise additional dedicated calls for requests as and when needed 
to  respond  to  specific  emerging  needs  from  Member  States  and  support  Member  States  with 
special measures in the event of urgent needs. It ran dedicated calls for requests in both 2021 
and 2022. 

The 2021 TSI cycle 
2021 was the first year of implementation of the Technical Support Instrument. Building on 
the  experience  and  success  of  the  Structural  Reform  Support  Programme,  DG  REFORM 
successfully raised awareness of the TSI among the 27 Member States’ potential beneficiary 
authorities, thus ensuring a strong level of interest from the onset. 

In 2021 (Figure 2), Member States submitted requests for technical support in response to three 
calls for requests: 

the TSI 2021 general call for requests; 

• 
•  a specific call for training on green budgeting practices; 
•  a  dedicated  call  for  support  for  EU  Member  States  in  preparing  their  resilience  and 

recovery plans. 

In September 2021, Greece submitted a further request for support under the special measures 
mechanism  to  tackle  the  urgent  post-fire  support  needed  for  the  restoration  and  recovery  of 
biodiversity and of the ecosystems in the burnt areas of the island of Evia. 

Number of 
submitted requests 

Number of 
selected requests 

General call for requests 

706 

232 

Budget earmarked for the 
selected requests in EUR 
million  
104.3 

5 https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-technical-assistance/taiex_en 
6 The list of entities implementing EU funds under indirect management for the Technical Support Instrument is 
provided on the Technical Support Instrument website. 

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Green budgeting practices training7 
Dedicated call for RRP support 
Special measures 

TOTAL TSI in 2021 

18 
38 
1 
763 

18 
26 
1 
277 

0.45 
10.49 
0.18 
115.42 

Figure 2 – TSI 2021 Overview table 

The 232 requests selected under the TSI 2021 general call covered key EU priorities including8: 

•  125  requests  related  to  the  preparation  or  implementation  of  national  recovery  and 

resilience plans; 

•  102 requests related to the digital transition; 
•  68 requests related to the European Green Deal; 
•  16 requests related to equality: support for women, people with disabilities, for the Roma 

community, migrants, older people and for the LGBTIQ+ community. 

The 27 cooperation and support plans concluded with Member States in 2021 describe the 
policy areas covered and the scope of support measures to be implemented, as well as indicative 
timelines and estimated budgets. 

The  277  requests  selected  for  TSI  in  2021  under  the  four  different  calls  for  requests  were 
streamlined into 263 projects as in a few cases, several requests were merged into a single project 
to  unlock  economies  of  scale  in  the  delivery  and  to  promote  local  synergies.  Of  these  263 
projects, two tackled the needs of several countries at the same time, paving the way for a multi-
country approach to be developed in the following years. 

As at the end of October 2023, 151 TSI 2021 projects had been closed, 5 had been cancelled and 
107  projects  were  still  ongoing.  An  example  of  an  important  TSI  2021  project  is  the 
Implementation of Green Budgeting Practices among the EU Member States. More examples 
and details are provided in the accompanying staff working document. 

The 2022 TSI cycle 
Building on the experience gained and outreach work carried out in the TSI 2021 round, for the 
second  year  of  implementation  of  the  Technical  Support  Instrument,  DG  REFORM  was 
successful  in  further  raising  awareness  of  the  programme  among  the  27  Member  States’ 
potential beneficiary authorities, underscoring that the quality of technical support requests was 
the determining factor for selection. 

The 2022 TSI cycle was launched during the first TSI Annual Conference, which took place on 
30 June and 1 July 2021. It started the discussion with Member States on potential requests to be 
submitted in the 2022 cycle and brought in two main changes: multi-country projects, geared at 
tackling common issues faced by many Member States, and boosting the EU added-value of the 
instrument, and ‘flagship’ projects, which support reforms that are widely needed across Member 
States and are in line with EU priorities.  

The  flagships  facilitate  Member  States  requests  by  providing  partially  developed  support 
initiatives to be fleshed out and tailored to Member States’ needs. DG REFORM proposed 12 
flagships on topics chosen following a thorough consultation of Commission policy Directorate-
Generals and national coordinating authorities in all Member States, to ensure consistency with 
national priorities and commitment of the national authorities. Out of the 12 proposals for TSI 

7 Another five Member States joined the training scheme in 2022. 
8 A single request for technical support may contribute to several EU priorities.  

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2022 technical support flagships projects, 5 focused on the green transition and 3 on the digital 
transition. 

In 2022 (Figure 3), Member States submitted requests for technical support in response to two 
calls for requests: 

the general TSI 2022 call for requests; 

• 
•  a  dedicated  call  for  requests  to  support  EU  Member  States  in  dealing  with  the 
consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, in particular in welcoming 
refugees from Ukraine and phasing out reliance on fossil fuels from Russia. 

Furthermore, 

•  Croatia submitted 4 requests under  Article 7 of the TSI Regulation,  allowing Member 

States to request additional TSI support at their own expense; 

•  5 Member States  submitted requests under  Article 7.2 of the Recovery and Resilience 
Facility Regulation, allowing Member States to propose including in their recovery and 
resilience plan  (as estimated costs) payments for additional technical support from the 
TSI. 

Number of 
submitted requests 

Number of 
selected requests 

General call 
Dedicated call on Ukraine 

TOTAL TSI in 2022 

Article 7 TSI 
Article 7.2 RRF 

512 
32 
544 
4 
5 

211 
28 
239 
3 
5 

Figure 3  – TSI 2022 overview table 

Budget earmarked for the 
selected requests in EUR 
million 
102.40 
9.28 
111.68 
2.76 
3.87 

The requests selected under the TSI 2022 general call covered key EU priorities, including9: 

•  103 requests related to the implementation of national recovery and resilience plans; 
•  95 requests related to the digital transition; 
•  63 requests related to the European Green Deal; 
•  24 requests related to equality: support for women, people with disabilities, for the Roma 

community, migrants, older people and for the LGBTIQ+ community. 

The 239 requests selected in 2022 for TSI support under the two different calls were translated 
into 185 projects. These led in turn to 270 reforms due to a sharp increase in the number multi-
country projects to tackle the needs of several countries at the same time. In the case of multi-
country projects, each country-specific component of the project is referred to as a reform. By 
definition,  a  multi-country  project  is  composed  of  several  country-specific  reforms.  For 
standalone projects, each project corresponds to a single reform. 

The 185 TSI 2022 projects were distributed as follows: 164 standalone projects for individual 
Member States and 21 multi-country projects comprising 106 country-specific reforms. 

As mentioned in the second annual report on implementation of the RRF10, 

9 A single request for technical support may contribute to several EU priorities. 
10 https://commission.europa.eu/publications/recovery-and-resilience-facility-annual-report-2023_en. 

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•  23  Member  States  have  received  or  are  currently  receiving  general  support  for 
crosscutting  aspects  of  RRP  implementation,  including  support  for  revising  the  plans, 
while all 27 Member States receive policy-specific support linked to implementation of 
the RRF measures. 

•  8 Member States are currently participating in a multi-country TSI-supported project to 

build capacity for effective communication of the benefits of RRPs. 

•  17 Member States have received or are currently receiving support under the REPowerEU 
plan. Some measures also have a digital dimension (e.g. the digitalisation of energy). 

As at the end of October 2023, 2 TSI 2022 projects had been closed and 183 projects were still 
ongoing.  Significant  TSI  2022  projects  include  the  multi-country  project  on  gender 
mainstreaming in public policy and budget processes; support for Romania to accelerate access 
to essential services for displaced Ukrainians, and the EU Supervisory Digital Finance Academy. 
More examples and details are provided in the accompanying staff working document. 

Project execution 
Running the Technical Support Instrument implies constant involvement of DG REFORM from 
the project design phase to its implementation. 

DG REFORM is active from the early stages of project identification, with extensive outreach to 
national  authorities,  constant  contacts  between  DG  REFORM  country  coordinators  and  the 
corresponding coordinating authorities, and meetings between DG REFORM senior managers 
and national authorities of each Member State in their capital. 

Once the requests are selected and the implementation mode is defined, policy officers in DG 
REFORM  liaise  regularly with  national  authorities to  identify the desired  project  outputs  and 
shape the related activities and work plans. They are always members of specific project teams, 
together with (any) selected providers, and they cooperate in the daily management of the project. 
They also facilitate effective communication between (any) providers and national authorities, 
promoting common understanding to ensure the project is a success.  

DG REFORM coordinates its work with other Commission departments via a permanent network 
of  representatives  of  other  Directorate-Generals.  This  is  to  ensure  that  the  technical  support 
provided  under  the  TSI  is  aligned  with  EU  policies,  does  not  duplicate  other  EU  action  and 
unlocks  synergies  with  other  EU  programmes.  This  cooperation  with  other  Commission 
departments  is  also  an  opportunity  to  facilitate  access  to  technical  expertise  available  in  the 
Commission or easily mobilised by other EU programmes. 

A member of DG REFORM staff is also by default a member of each project steering committee, 
together  with  senior  officials  from  the  national  authorities.  Their  role  is  to  ensure  the  project 
remains in line with the national and EU priorities and adapts to the evolving context if necessary, 
in view of contributing to the national reform agenda. 

Evaluation 
The evaluation of the Technical Support Instrument programme and projects feeds in evidence 
of the results for Member States and citizens on the ground. DG REFORM evaluates the support 
it provides to Member States both at programme level and at project level. 

In line with the Commission’s Better Regulation guidelines, the Technical Support Instrument is 
subject to a mid-term (by February 2025) and an ex post evaluation (by December 2030) 11, each 

11 TSI Regulation, Article 16. 

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underpinned by a study conducted by an independent third party. The TSI mid-term evaluation, 
is expected to play an important role in shaping the next generation of this programme. 

In addition to the evaluation carried out at programme level, DG REFORM has put in place a 
two-stage procedure to evaluate TSI technical support projects. The first step takes place shortly 
after project closure to assess whether the main stakeholders involved in the project are satisfied 
with the project design and delivery. The aim of the second step is to assess the extent to which 
the project met the expected outcomes and takes place at least one year after the project is closed. 

Although project duration can vary, on average it takes 24 months to complete a TSI project. 
Since the first TSI 2021 projects got underway in mid-2021, at the date of the publication of this 
report,  only  a  few  projects  have  been  closed  for  more  than  a  few  months.  The  first  available 
replies to the evaluation questionnaires indicated a positive evaluation of the value of the TSI. In 
particular,  national  authorities  appreciated  being  closely  involved  during  the  project 
identification phase and in their implementation. National authorities also valued the active role 
played by DG REFORM in enabling direct contacts with them and with the providers of technical 
support. 

Communication 
The Technical Support Instrument works hand in hand with national administrations to support 
the design and implementation of their reforms for the benefit of their citizens and businesses. 
To  ensure  that  the  EU  funding  provided  is  visible,  DG  REFORM  promotes  the  Technical 
Support Instrument, TSI projects and their results via dedicated channels and provides targeted 
information to multiple audiences, including the media and the public. 

In  this  context,  DG  REFORM  has  successfully  embedded  a  TSI  press  conference  and  a  TSI 
annual conference in the yearly cycle of the programme. In addition, the activities and results of 
the  Technical  Support  Instrument  and  related  TSI  projects  are  widely  shared  on  the  Reform 
Support website, providing detailed information by policy area and by country. The website 
also hosts the single online public repository of TSI project final deliverables. DG REFORM 
uses social media to share information about TSI via its @EU_reforms Twitter/X account. 

Conclusion 
In its first two years of implementation, the TSI provided technical support for the design and 
implementation of reforms in all Member States. The number of requests received consistently 
outnumbered  the  number  of  requests  that  the  programme  was  able  to  cover,  testament  to  the 
interest of national authorities in the opportunities offered by this instrument. 

The growing number of multi-country projects over the two years was an indicator of the TSI 
programme's  capacity to  bring  further  EU added value and to  facilitate the exchange of good 
practices and mutual learning opportunities among national administrations. 

DG REFORM stepped up its communication on TSI activities to enhance the accountability of 
the instrument and to make national authorities aware of the opportunities available under the 
TSI. The aim of this communication was to broaden national authorities' understanding of the 
opportunities available under the TSI and enable them to design projects to make optimum use 
of the instrument to tackle their specific needs. 

Most importantly, DG REFORM staff made a concerted effort at all levels to support Member 
States  during  the  implementation  phase  to  ensure  the  projects  were  successful  and  that  their 
outputs remained in line with Member States’ objectives. DG REFORM also cooperates with 
national authorities to go beyond the implementation of specific projects – which end with the 

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achievement and delivery of outputs – and may support them to follow up on the results of the 
projects to implement their reform agendas.  

Given that the implementation of the first cycle of the Technical Support Instrument started in 
2021, it is still too early to assess the project achievements on the ground. However, based on 
feedback received from beneficiary authorities at project level, and from coordinating authorities 
at country level, Member States generally appreciated the support provided through the TSI, in 
particular the active role they can play in designing and implementing projects, and the effective 

communication by DG REFORM. 

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