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

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

Article 1

Establishment and duration of the Programme

This Regulation establishes the Structural Reform Support Programme (‘the Programme’) for the period from 20 May 2017 to 31 December 2020.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1)‘beneficiary Member State’ means a Member State that receives support from the Union under the Programme;

(2)‘Union funds’ means the European Structural and Investment Funds referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, the Fund for the European Aid to the Most Deprived, established by Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹), the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund established by Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²), the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management established as part of the Internal Security Fund, by Regulation (EU) No 513/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³), and the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa established, as part of the Internal Security Fund, by Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁴);

(3)‘national authority’ means one or more national authorities, including authorities at regional and local levels, cooperating in a spirit of partnership in accordance with the Member States' institutional and legal framework;

(4)‘international organisation’ means an international public-sector organisation set up by an international agreement, as well as specialised agencies set up by such an organisation, within the meaning of point (c)(ii) of Article 58(1) of the Financial Regulation; organisations assimilated with an international organisation are considered to be international organisations in line with the Financial Regulation;

(5)‘European organisations’ means the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, as referred to in point (c)(iii) of Article 58(1) of the Financial Regulation.

Article 3

European added value

(a)the development and implementation of solutions that address local, regional or national challenges that have an impact on cross-border or Union-wide challenges, and which may also contribute to social, economic and territorial cohesion;

(b)their complementarity and synergy with other Union programmes and policies at regional, national, Union and international level, as appropriate;

(c)their contribution to the consistent and coherent implementation of Union law and policies, as well as the promotion of European values, including solidarity;

(d)their contribution to the sharing of good practices, also with a view to increasing the visibility of the reform programmes, and to building a Union-wide platform and network of expertise;

(e)the promotion of mutual trust between beneficiary Member States and the Commission and of cooperation among Member States.

Article 4

General objective

The general objective of the Programme shall be to contribute to institutional, administrative and growth-sustaining structural reforms in the Member States by providing support to national authorities for measures aimed at reforming and strengthening institutions, governance, public administration, and economic and social sectors in response to economic and social challenges, with a view to enhancing cohesion, competitiveness, productivity, sustainable growth, job creation, investment and social inclusion and to contributing to real convergence in the Union, which may also prepare for participation in the euro area, in particular in the context of economic governance processes, including through assistance for the efficient, effective and transparent use of the Union funds.

Article 5

Specific objectives and scope of the Programme

(a)to support the initiatives of national authorities to design their reforms according to their priorities, taking into account initial conditions and expected socioeconomic impacts;

(b)to support the national authorities in enhancing their capacity to formulate, develop and implement reform policies and strategies and in pursuing an integrated approach ensuring consistency between goals and means across sectors;

(c)to support the efforts of national authorities to define and implement appropriate processes and methodologies by taking into account good practices of and lessons learned by other countries in addressing similar situations;

(d)to assist the national authorities in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of human-resource management, inter alia, by strengthening professional knowledge and skills and setting out clear responsibilities.

(a)public financial and asset management, budget process, debt management and revenue administration;

(b)institutional reform and efficient and service-oriented functioning of public administration, including, where appropriate, through the simplification of rules, effective rule of law, reform of the justice systems and reinforcement of the fight against fraud, corruption and money laundering;

(c)business environment (including for SMEs), re-industrialisation, private sector development, investment, public participation in enterprises, privatisation processes, trade and foreign direct investment, competition and public procurement, sustainable sectoral development and support for innovation and digitalisation;

(d)education and training; labour market policies, including social dialogue, for the creation of jobs; the fight against poverty; the promotion of social inclusion; social security and social welfare systems; public health and healthcare systems; as well as cohesion, asylum, migration and border policies;

(e)policies for implementing climate action, promoting energy efficiency and achieving energy diversification, as well as for the agricultural sector, fisheries and the sustainable development of rural areas;

(f)financial sector policies, including the promotion of financial literacy, financial stability, access to finance and lending to the real economy; the production, provision and quality monitoring of data and statistics; and policies aimed at combating tax evasion.

Article 5a

Support for preparation for euro area membership

With a view to pursuing the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, and within the eligible actions referred to in Article 6, the Programme may finance actions and activities also in support of reforms that may help Members States in their preparation to join the euro area.

Article 6

Eligible actions

With a view to pursuing the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, the Programme shall finance in particular the following types of action:

(a)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 provision of experts, including resident experts, for a short or long period, 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, as appropriate, in particular:

(i)seminars, conferences and workshops;

(ii)working visits to relevant Member States or third countries to enable officials to acquire or increase their expertise or knowledge in relevant matters; and

(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)collection of data and statistics, development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, indicators or benchmarks;

(e)organisation of local operational support in areas such as asylum, migration and border control;

(f)IT capacity building: expertise related to development, maintenance, operation and quality control of the IT infrastructure and applications needed to implement the relevant reforms, as well as expertise related to programmes geared towards the digitalisation of public services;

(g)studies, research, analyses and surveys, evaluations and impact assessments, and the development and publication of guides, reports and educational material;

(h)communication projects for learning, cooperation, awareness raising, dissemination activities and the exchange of good practices; organisation of awareness-raising and information campaigns, media campaigns and events, including corporate communication and communication, where appropriate, through social networks;

(i)compilation and publication of materials to disseminate information as well as the results of the Programme, including through the development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools using information and communication technologies;

(j)any other relevant activity in support of the general and specific objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5.

Article 7

Request for support

Based on that analysis and taking into account the existing actions and measures financed by Union funds or other Union programmes, the Commission shall come to an agreement with the Member State concerned 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 support, to be set out in a cooperation and support plan.

(a)the implementation of reforms by Member States, undertaken at their own initiative, in particular to achieve sustainable economic growth and job creation;

(b)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 (⁵) for the euro area Member States and Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 (⁶) for non-euro area Member States;

(c)the implementation of growth-sustaining reforms in the context of economic governance processes, in particular of the country-specific recommendations issued in the context of the European Semester or of actions related to the implementation of Union law.

Article 8

Information to the European Parliament and the Council on the cooperation and support plans

(a)as soon as the beneficiary Member State has redacted all sensitive or confidential information, the disclosure of which would jeopardise public interests of the beneficiary Member State;

(b)after a reasonable period of time, when the disclosure of relevant information would not adversely affect the implementation of the support measures under the Programme, and in any case no later than two months after the delivery of such measures under the cooperation and support plan.

Article 9

Organisation of support and reform partners

Article 10

Financial envelope

Article 11

Other financial contributions to the budget of the Programme

Article 12

No double funding

Actions financed under this Regulation may receive support from other Union programmes, instruments or funds under the Union's budget provided that such support does not cover the same cost items.

Article 13

Implementation of the Programme

(a)grants, including grants to the Member States' national authorities;

(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 in indirect management.