EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 17.12.2019

SWD(2019) 442 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Annual Monitoring Report on the implementation of the Structural Reform Support Programme 2018

{COM(2019) 641 final}

Table of Contents

Glossary

1.Introduction

2.Background information

2.1.    Budget of the Programme    

2.2.    Objectives and scope of the Programme    

2.3.    European Added Value    

2.4.    Implementation of the Programme and forms of support    

2.5.    Data collection    

3.Implementation of support measures funded by srsp 2018 budget

3.1.    Introduction    

3.2.    Requests for support submitted by the Member States    

3.3.    Application of the assessment criteria    

3.3.1.    Step 1 – screening and analysis of the requests for support    

3.3.2.    Step 2 – prioritisation of the requests for support    

3.4.    Selection of requests    

3.5.    Cooperation and Support Plans concluded    

3.6.    Reform partners and special measures    

3.7.    Implementation of support measures    

4.Progress in relation to programme's objectives

4.1.    Progress in achieving the general objective    

4.2.    Progress in achieving the specific objectives    

4.3.    Expected outcomes of the SRSP activities    31

4.4.    European Added Value    

5.delivered support measures under the programme

6.Conclusion

ANNEX I

ANNEX II 

ANNEX III

Glossary

1.Introduction

Structural reforms are crucial if we are to modernise our economies, encourage investment, create jobs and raise living standards. Overall successful implementation of reforms requires efficient and effective public administration, since this affects the performance of all public policy domains, including reform efforts. For this reason, adequate administrative capacity (in terms of competences, mobility, incentives, changes to work processes, etc.) is crucial for well-functioning economies and to underpin the success of structural reforms.

The Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP), established in May 2017, covers the 2017- 2020 period 1 . Its objective is to strengthen the Member States’ capacity to prepare and implement growth-enhancing reforms, including by providing assistance for the efficient and effective use of Union funds. The final decisions on the design, structure and implementation of reforms lie with the Member States, however.

Support from the SRSP is available to all EU Member States upon request 2 , requires no co-financing and involves a relatively small administrative burden for Member States. It is managed by the Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS).

The Commission monitors how support measures financed by the programme are implemented and provides the European Parliament and the Council with an annual monitoring report 3 for each year of implementation.

Member States wishing to receive support under the SRSP can submit a request by 31 October of each calendar year 4 . This report provides an overview of the implementation of measures selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP round. In addition, section 5 of the report (progress in relation to the programme’s objectives) describes the progress of some measures selected for financing under the 2017 SRSP round and covered by the previous annual monitoring report for the 2017 SRSP.

Article 16 of the SRSP Regulation

Monitoring and evaluation

[…]

2. The Commission shall provide the European Parliament and the Council with an annual monitoring report on the implementation of the Programme. That report shall include information on:

a)requests for support submitted by Member States, referred to in Article 7(1);

b)analyses of the application of the criteria, referred to in Article 7(2), used to analyse the requests for support submitted by Member States;

c)cooperation and support plans, referred to in Article 7(2);

d)participation of reform partners, referred to in Article 9;

e)special measures adopted, referred to in Article 13(6); and

f)implementation of support measures 5 .

2.Background information

2.1.Budget of the programme

The budget for the implementation of the Programme over the 2017-2020 period is €222.8 million (following the amendment to the original SRSP Regulation) 6 . The budget available for 2018 was €30.5 million 7 .

In addition to the SRSP budget, Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation and Article 25 and 59 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 (the Common Provisions Regulation) also enable the programme to be financed through additional voluntary contributions from Member States, using resources provided for technical assistance at the initiative of the Member States under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) 8 . In 2018, two Member States, Greece and Bulgaria, made such voluntary contributions. These followed a request by Greece on 30 January 2018 to transfer €20 million from its technical assistance operational programme and from Bulgaria on 31 January 2018 to transfer €1.5 million from the ‘good governance’ operational programme. The overall budget for 2018 (including both the dedicated SRSP 2018 budget and the transferred resources) thus amounted to €52 million.

2.2.Objectives and scope of the programme

The general objective of the SRSP is to contribute to institutional, administrative and growth-sustaining structural reforms in the Member States 9 . This is achieved by providing support to national authorities with the aim of reforming and strengthening institutions, governance, public administration, and economic and social sectors in response to economic and social challenges.

The overarching goal is to enhance cohesion, competitiveness, productivity, sustainable growth, job creation, and investment, in particular in the context of economic governance processes, including through assistance for the efficient, effective and transparent use of the Union funds 10 .

The specific objectives of the programme 11 are to:

a)support the intiatitives of Member States’ national authorities to design their reforms according to their priorities;

b)enhance the national authorities’ capacity to formulate, develop and implement reform policies and strategies and pursue an integrated approach;

c)support the efforts of national authorities to define and implement appropriate processes and methodologies; and

d)assist the national authorities in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources management.

The support therefore covers all stages of reform, from inception to implementation and evaluation of results.

Support can be provided for reforms which fall under the following main broad policy areas 12 :

a)revenue administration and public financial management;

b)governance and public administration;

c)growth and business environment (including energy and climate action);

d)labour market, education, health and social issues; and

e)financial sector and access to finance.

2.3.European added value

The Commission should ensure that actions and activities selected for funding are likely to produce results that show a clear European added value 13 .

European added value is ensured in particular by:

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; and

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

2.4.Implementation of the programme and forms of support 

The support provided under the SRSP is tailored to the country’s needs. Experts accompany national authorities throughout different stages of the reform process (scoping, prioritising, designing, road mapping, implementing, evaluating). The support depends on the nature of the reform, the urgency of action, the resources available and the obligations deriving from the EU Financial Regulation.

In concrete terms, the technical support can take the form of 14 :

·long-term or short-term presence of experts, and cooperation on the ground with the national authorities throughout the reform process or at certain stages;

·actions to help address specific needs – diagnostic analyses, recommendations on how to address the situation, a strategy, draft of a new law/act or modification of an existing one; proposals for (new) working and organisational procedures; and/or

·wider actions that increase administrative capacity – seminars, training, working visits, development of methodologies, collection of data, establishment of benchmarks, etc. 

2.5.Data collection 

All data on the implementation of the SRSP is stored by the European Commission in an internal IT tool managed by the SRSS. The tool facilitates monitoring and reporting on the implementation of support projects managed by the SRSS. It has provided data for this report.

3.Implementation of support measures funded by the srsp 2018 budget

3.1.Introduction 

2018 was the second year of activities under the SRSP 15 . As indicated previously, the budget for support measures in 2018 amounted to €30.5 million, available to all EU Member States. An additional €21.5 million transferred by Greece and Bulgaria were used exclusively for these countries (corresponding to the amount of their contribution). On 7 March 2018, the Commission adopted the second annual work programme for the SRSP 16 , setting out priorities for the year, objectives, expected results and outlined actions to be implemented throughout 2018. The annual work programme for 2018 was sent to the European Parliament and the Council on 4 May 2018 17 . The focus of this report is the support measures selected for funding in 2018, and it also covers the implementation of support measures selected in 2017 18 .

3.2.Requests for support submitted by the Member States

Member States were invited to submit their requests for support by 31 October 2017 19 , and provide information on the following elements:

a)problem/need to be addressed by the requested support measures;

b)the breadth of the problems identified (impact on other areas in the economy);

c)and depth of the problems identified (severity);

d)the urgency of the request for support;

e)relevant socio-economic indicators to be taken into consideration when analysing the request, the indicative duration and estimated cost;

f)expected results/use of the results of the support measures requested;

g)information on the administrative capacity of the Member State to implement the results of the support measures and potential providers.

In their request for support, Member States also identified the relevant circumstances 20 under which they were submitting the requests:

a)the implementation of reforms undertaken by Member States 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); and

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

The requests for support from interested Member States were submitted centrally by designated coordinating authorities 21 , i.e. authorities responsible for submitting requests on behalf of a Member State.

Each coordinating authority was invited to prioritise requests for its Member State. The requests for support could come from the national authorities of the Member States, i.e. authorities at central, regional or local level, or independent authorities.

Once the requests for support were selected, the Commission then concluded a cooperation and support plan with the coordinating authority of each beneficiary Member State (see section 3.5).

For the 2018 selection round, 444 requests for support were submitted by 24 Member States for an estimated amount 22 that was 5 times the available 2018 SRSP budget (€152 million; the budget is €30.5 million). The chart below shows the number of requests submitted per Member State, and a comparison with the previous round.

Figure 1: Number of requests submitted for funding under the SRSP 2017 and 2018 rounds, per Member State

More Member States participated in the Programme in 2018 than under the 2017 SRSP, and the total number of requests was higher.

Greece submitted 48 requests 23 (for €20 million) and Bulgaria submitted 4 requests (for €1.5 million) for financing under the respective amounts transferred voluntarily to the SRSP by the two countries under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation.

The distribution of requests across the main broad policy areas was as follows:

Figure 2: Number of requests submitted by Member States under the 2018 SRSP – split per main broad policy area (in percentages)

By comparison, the highest number of requests submitted under the 2017 SRSP were in labour market, education, health and social services (27%) and growth and business environment (23%).

Distribution per policy area was similar for Greece and Bulgaria under the voluntarily transferred funds: 38% in growth and business environment, 23% in governance and public administration, 21% in labour market, education, health and social services, 9% in revenue administration and public financial management and 9% in the financial sector.

Around a third of the requests submitted by the Member States in the context of the 2018 SRSP round related to the EU economic governance process (implementation of reforms in response to challenges identified in the European Semester Country-Specific Recommendations or in relevant European Semester documents). Around a third concerned support for implementing Union priorities (capital markets union, energy union, etc.), around a third for implementing Member States’ own reform priorities, and the remaining requests for implementing EU law (e.g. in relation to infringements) and reform priorities identified in the economic adjustment programmes (Greece only).

The chart below shows the distribution by category 24 .

Figure 3: Number of requests submitted by Member States – split according to circumstances

3.3.Application of the assessment criteria

The Commission’s assessment was based on two sets of elements 25 :

·general principles: transparency, equal treatment and sound financial management; and

·criteria for the analysis of requests: urgency, breadth and depth of the problems, support needs in the policy areas concerned, analysis of socio-economic indicators and general administrative capacity of the Member State.

The Commission analysed the requests for support submitted by the Member States in terms of their eligibility and compliance with these principles and criteria.

A practical two-step approach was undertaken:

a)screening for eligibility and analysis of requests; and

b)prioritisation of requests for selection.

As part of the assessment, the Commission undertook a broad internal consultation with all relevant Commission services in order to ensure complementarity and to avoid having the same actions funded by several Union funds/programmes (in particular the ESI Funds). The process (including the broad consultation with other Commission services which fed into the assessment) resulted in the steps described below:

Step 1 – screening and analysis of the requests for support

Screening

Prior to assessing the requests submitted under the SRSP 2018 round, the Commission first established whether the requests met the legal requirements of the SRSP Regulation (eligibility check). Requests which included elements that were not ‘eligible actions’ under the SRSP Regulation (see Article 6) such as the purchase of equipment, provision of IT software, budget support measures, measures consisting of paying for running costs, etc., were excluded from further assessment.

As a result of the first screening, 6% (28 requests) were excluded, and 94% (416 requests) proceeded to further analysis (eligible requests).

Analysis of the requests for support

Following the exclusion of ineligible and withdrawn requests, the purpose of the analysis was to identify the requests that merited support under the SRSP. The analysis was based on the principles and criteria set out in Article 7(2) of the SRSP Regulation.

A. General principles

Throughout the selection process, the general principles of the EU financial management rules (transparency, equal treatment and sound financial management) were applied.

B. Assessment criteria

The assessment criteria 26 were applied in the following way:

I.Urgency of the request

The Commission assessed the urgency of a request, as initially presented by the Member State. It also took account of the following elements:

·whether the urgency was linked to a crisis;

·whether the urgency was related to a deadline or a time-bound schedule derived from Union law, or from Union/Commission policy priorities (e.g. European Semester, Economic Adjustment programmes, capital markets union (CMU), energy union, digital single market, etc.)

II.Breadth and depth of the problems identified

The Commission assessed the severity (breadth) and extent (depth) of the problem, as presented by the Member State. It also took account of the following elements:

·the Commission's own knowledge and assessment of the prevailing situation in the Member State;

·country reports, country-specific recommendations, annual reports on the application of EU law and other relevant documents related to Union/Commission priorities (energy union, CMU, etc.), as well as to Member States’ own reform priorities, where known.

III.Support needs in respect of the policy areas concerned

The Commission analysed support needs, as described in the requests by the Member States. It also took account of the following elements:

·at which stage of the reform process the support would be required (the design phase or the implementation phase) and how appropriate the solution proposed by the Member States would be to address it;

·whether the requested support measures were covered by already existing support measures/instruments (under national or Union (e.g. ESI Funds) programmes).

IV.Socio-economic indicators

The Commission took account of relevant socio-economic indicators (as they had been described by the Member States in their requests for support, or in another manner as appropriate) to support the assessment 27 .

V.General administrative capacity of the Member State

The Commission also assessed the capacity of the Member State (i.e. of the national authorities requesting support) to implement and absorb the support measures to be provided, and ensure adequate follow-up. The following elements were particularly taken into account:

·existence of a structure in the requesting Member State that would coordinate and follow up on the support measures;

·staff that would be made available to follow up on the support measures;

·capacity (also based on past experience) to manage support measures/projects.

Rating system

In order to ensure equal treatment, a rating system was put in place to assess how the eligible requests complied with the criteria indicated above.

58% of the 416 requests analysed in the 2018 SRSP round received high scores, 13% medium scores, 12% had one major weakness and 17% several major weaknesses. The chart below shows the breakdown in percentages:

Figure 4: Requests by rating category

This compares to the requests analysed under the 2017 SRSP, where 71% of the requests received high scores and 11% had several major weaknesses.

Requests for support to be funded by the voluntary transfers from Greece and Bulgaria were assessed against the same principles and assessment criteria. 76% of the requests received high scores, 8% medium scores, 8% had one major weakness, and 8% had several major weaknesses.

In both cases, requests with high scores had in general the following characteristics:

·the problems/needs identified were sufficiently relevant/important and not covered by other Union funds/programmes;

·the solutions proposed were suitable for addressing the problems/needs;

·relevant socio-economic indicators underpinned the problems/needs at stake;

·the requesting Member State had sufficient administrative capacity to follow up the measure funded by the SRSP.

Step 2 – prioritisation of the requests for support

The results of the screening and analysis stage were used to select requests for 2018 (€30.5 million available, and €152 million in requests received).

The requests were prioritised based on the principle of sound financial management (in particular taking into account their maturity, focus and expected results).

Priority was given to:

·measures that were mature enough to allow for quick delivery of support and rapid implementation of reforms on the ground;

·targeted measures addressing defined objectives (as opposed to requests that were more generic or preparatory); and

·measures with a strong expected results on the ground.

3.4.Selection of requests

After the analysis and prioritisation of the 416 eligible requests for technical support, 146 requests from 24 Member States were selected for funding under the available 2018 SRSP budget of €30.5 million. The distribution of selected requests by Member State was as shown below.

Figure 5: Number of requests selected for funding under the 2017 and 2018 SRSP rounds, per Member State

With an increase in the budget from €20.5 million in the 2017 SRSP to €30.5 million in the 2018 SRSP, the overall number of requests selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP was lower than under the 2017 SRSP, but distributed across more Member States (24).

The distribution of requests selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP across the main broad policy areas was as shown below.

Figure 6: Number of requests selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP– split per main broad policy area (in percentages)

By comparison, the highest numbers of requests selected for funding under the 2017 SRSP were in labour market, education, health and social policy (29%) and growth and business environment (28%).

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, 39 requests were selected for Greece and 4 (i.e. all) for Bulgaria. The distribution per policy area was 40% for growth and business environment, 21.5% for governance and public administration, 21.5% for labour market, education, health and social policy, 10% for the financial sector and 7% for revenue administration and public financial management.

The following chart shows the breakdown of the request selected under the SRSP 2018 budget and split according to relevant circumstances:

Figure 7: Number of requests selected under the 2018 SRSP – split according to circumstances of the request (in percentages)

97% of requests selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP round were given high scores. The chart below shows the distribution of the scores of the selected requests.

Figure 8: Rating of requests selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP 28

By way of comparison, 88% of requests selected for funding under the 2017 SRSP were given high scores.

3.5.Cooperation and support plans

Once the requests for support had been selected, the Commission concluded a cooperation and support plan 29 with each Member State benefiting from the programme.

In 2018, 24 cooperation and support plans were concluded between the Commission and the Member States. They were sent to the European Parliament and the Council on 4 May 2018, in line with Article 8 of the SRSP Regulation.

Bulgaria’s and Greece’s cooperation and support plans were amended (for Bulgaria on 16 October 2018 and for Greece on 29 June 2019) to also include the mention of technical support measures (and their indicative timelines) to be funded by the voluntary transfers under Article 11.

3.6.Reform partners and special measures

In coordination with the Commission, the beneficiary Member State may enter into partnership with one or more other Member States which will act as reform partners to support specific areas of reform 32 . In 2018, none of the requesting Member States entered into such a partnership.

Every year, a limited part of the 2018 annual work programme is earmarked for special measures 33 in the event of unforeseen and duly justified grounds of urgency requiring an immediate response for a maximum period of 6 months. In 2018, Cyprus requested support under special measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Insolvency Service of Cyprus and carry out a study to examine the introduction of digital audio recording of court proceedings (linked to the Commission’s decision on state aid SA.35334 (2018/N-2)). Both measures have now been finalised (final outputs were delivered within 6 months 34 ).

3.7. Implementation of support measures

The 146 selected requests resulted in 135 projects (some selected requests were later cancelled by Member States and some were merged for implementation purposes into one project). The 135 support measures are listed in Annex I. The distribution of support measures/projects per Member State is shown in the table below.

Figure 9: Number of projects implemented on the ground using SRSP 2018 funding, per Member State

Under the 2017 SRSP, 145 projects were being implemented on the ground by the cut-off date set the previous year.

Using the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, the 39 requests selected for Greece resulted in 31 projects (some selected requests were cancelled later by the Member State and some were merged into one project for implementation purposes) and 4 selected requests for Bulgaria resulted in 4 projects. The 35 support measures are listed in Annex II.

By 30 November 2019 (here we refer only to projects selected for funding under the SRSP 2018 round and not including voluntary transfers), 30% of the reform support projects under the 2018 SRSP had already been completed and 70% continued to be implemented on the ground. The chart below shows the state of play of implementation on 30 November 2019.

Figure 10: State of play of 2018 SRSP project implementation

By comparison, under the 2017 SRSP, 82% of the projects had been implemented on the ground and 12% had been finalised by the cut-off date last year.

The distribution of projects across the main broad policy areas is illustrated in the chart below.

Figure 11: Projects by main broad policy area

Under the 2017 SRSP, the highest number of implemented projects were in the area of growth and business environment (30%) and labour market, education, health and social services (26%).

The breakdown of specific actions (measures funded by the SRSP 2018 budget) supported in each policy area and each Member State is described in the chart below.

The largest proportion of support measures selected under the SRSP 2018 round and currently being implemented concern the following sectors/actions (see the figure below and Annex III for more details):

·Tax policy (13%);

·Education and training (9%);

·Digital public administration (8%);

·Governance (8%);

·Healthcare system (7%);

·Capital markets union (5%).

Figure 12: Sectors / actions covered by the support measures

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, by 30 November 2019, 24% of the projects were under preparation and 74% were being implemented on the ground. One recently approved project had not yet started (2%). The largest proportion of support measures concerns the environment, circular economy, water and land registry; labour market policies; better regulation, licensing, permits and inspections; central and local administration; and judicial reform, social policies and other sectoral expertise.

118 different authorities were recipients of support measures funded under the 2018 SRSP.

The type of beneficiary authority receiving support is shown in the chart below.

Figure 13: Type of beneficiary authority receiving support measures under the 2018 SRSP

The distribution of beneficiary authorities in each Member State is shown by type in the table below.

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria, the majority of beneficiary authorities were ministries (82%) and the remaining 18% other public bodies, the central government or public agencies.

Means of implementation

The programme’s support measures can be implemented either directly by the Commission or indirectly by entities and persons other than Member States 35 . Financing of the support measures can take the form of grants, including grants to the Member States’ national authorities, public procurement contracts, reimbursements of costs incurred by external experts, contributions to trust funds set up by international organisations, and actions carried out in indirect management.

By 31 November 2019, the 2018 SRSP budget of €30.5 million for projects selected for funding under the 2018 SRSP was being implemented as follows.

Figure 14: Breakdown of the means of implementing projects under the SRSP 2018 budget (% of budget)

Grants

By 31 November 2019 (referring here only to projects selected for funding under the 2018 round), the majority of grants being implemented 36 were awarded to international organisations (52%), government bodies (18%) and public law bodies (16%), which is similar to the distribution of grants awarded for projects under the 2017 round.

Figure 15: Types of technical support providers implementing grants in the 2018 SRSP round

Public procurement and TAIEX

By 31 November 2019 (referring only to projects selected for funding under the 2018 round), the majority of the procurements were specific contracts based on framework contracts (79%) followed by direct procurement contracts for services (16%).

4% of the 2018 funding has been implemented through a Service Level Agreement entered into with DG NEAR to utilise the TAIEX 37 instrument under a programme entitled TAIEX SRSP Peer to Peer, which provided for expert exchange between Member States' administrations, and 1% through simplified expert contracts for private sector experts (AMI list).

Figure 16: Types of procurement contract and TAIEX actions (value)

Delegation agreement

By 31 November 2019 (referring here only to projects selected for funding under the 2018 round), the implementation of seven projects was being indirectly managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, the support measures were implemented mainly through grants (65%), public procurement (30%) and to a smaller extent also through indirect management (5%).

4.Progress in relation to the programme’s objectives

Institutional, administrative and growth-sustaining structural reforms are, by their very nature, complex processes, the design and implementation of which require a complete chain of highly specialised knowledge and skills. In some Member States, the capacity to initiate and implement structural reforms is not always adequate to address the challenges ahead. Inadequate responses to economic and social challenges could hamper competitiveness, growth, employment, and investment.

Considering the European dimension of these challenges, the SRSP aims to reinforce administrative capacity in the Member States and, by doing so, help the Member States implement institutional, administrative and structural reforms. Better administrative capacity can make administrative structures more efficient, benefiting the public and business.

To this end, through its support measures, the SRSP aims to achieve the following results:

·improved ability of national authorities to identify and address economic and structural weaknesses;

·strengthened ability to develop, design and implement reform policies according to priorities;

·improved capacity of national authorities to define processes and methodologies to support the design, management and implementation of reforms, and/or the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources;

·increased professional knowledge, skills and adaptability to change management processes;

·improved channels of communication with the Commission, Member States and international organisations in order to improve communication and coordination of reform efforts; and

·improved capacity to ensure progress of reforms recommended within the European Semester cycle, economic adjustment programmes and Member States’ own-initiative reforms, and to ensure consistent and coherent implementation of Union law.

Against this background, the intervention logic of the programme can be illustrated in the chart below: the activities under the programme produce outputs, which in turn generate outcomes. The outcomes then contribute to the achievement of the specific objectives at the project and programme level. This in turn feeds into progress towards the general objective of the programme, which is to support growth-sustaining structural reforms in the Member States.

Figure 17: Intervention logic of the SRSP

4.1.Progress in achieving the general objective

The general objective of the programme is 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. This is done with a view to enhancing cohesion, competitiveness, productivity, sustainable growth, job creation and investment, in particular in the context of economic governance processes, including through assistance for the efficient, effective and transparent use of the Union funds 38 .

While it is not within the remit of this report to illustrate the ultimate effects of the reforms 39 on which a Member State may have embarked and for which some support may be or is being provided under the SRSP, we can say that in general terms, the SRSP is on track when it comes to delivering on its general objective 40 .

The support measures implemented under the SRSP have provided assistance to national authorities in the design and implementation of a whole range of institutional, administrative and structural reforms. The activities under the programme and the outputs already delivered under the SRSP 2017 and 2018 rounds (described below) help strengthen the overall capacity and sound governance of the requesting Member States.

Support measures are being implemented in those policy sectors for which institutional, administrative and/or structural reforms have been envisaged and/or should be undertaken by the Member States, also in view of the support provided.

The table below shows that the support measures under way in the requesting Member States and for projects selected for financing under the SRSP 2018 round contribute to the implementation of institutional, administrative and structural reforms that Member States face in various economic and social sectors, and which are being undertaken in response to economic and social challenges.

4.2.Progress in achieving the specific objectives

Support measures financed by the SRSP 2018 budget are contributing to the specific objectives of the programme as follows 41 (see Annex III for more details):

·47% of support measures contribute to the design of reforms.

oThe majority of support measures contributing to this objective are in tax policy, digital public administration, education and training and capital markets union.

·64% contribute to the formulation, development and implementation of reforms;

oThe majority of support measures contributing to this objective are in tax policy, education and training, healthcare, and capital markets union.

·56% contribute to the definition and implementation of processes and methodologies;

oThe majority of support measures contributing to this objective are in tax policy, education and training, healthcare, digital public administration, judicial reform and capital markets union.

·19% of support measures aim to help improve efficiency and effectiveness of human resources management.

oThe majority of support measures contributing to this objective are in digital public administration, healthcare, judicial reform and management of human resources.

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, the support measures were related to the design of reforms (33%), to the formulation, development and implementation of reforms (55%), to the definition and implementation of processes and methodologies (33%) and to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources management (18%).

4.3.Expected outcomes of SRSP activities 

In line with the intervention logic of the programme (see Figure 18), the support measures financed under the 2018 SRSP budget are expected to achieve outcomes that will ultimately contribute to the achievement of the general and specific SRSP objectives as follows. 

·24% of support measures are expected to lead (or have led) to adoption of a strategy, draft of a new law or act, or modification of an existing one;

·47% of support measures are expected to lead (or have led) to adoption of (new) procedures and actions to enhance the implementation of reforms;

·50% of support measures strive to deliver (or have delivered) improved internal working procedures, methodologies and processes/organisation;

·14% of support measures aim to bring about organisational change, change management and improved human resource management;

·16% of support measures are expected to lead (or have led) to other results (indentification of policy options, strengthened administrative capacity, collection of data and information, strategic and operational planning, etc.).

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, 33% are expected to lead (or have led) to the adoption of a strategy, draft of a new law or act, or modification of an existing one; 30% to the adoption of (new) procedures and actions to enhance the implementation of reforms; 45% of support measures strive to deliver improved internal working procedures, methodologies and processes/organisation; and 21% aim to bring about organisational change, change management, and improved human resource management.

4.4.European added value

Actions selected under the SRSP 2018 round are designed to ensure complementarity and synergy with other programmes and policies at national, Union and international level, contribute to further promoting mutual trust and cooperation between beneficiary Member States and the Commission, and ensure consistent and coherent implementation of Union law. In addition, some actions should allow for the development and implementation of solutions that address national challenges but also have a positive cross-border impact and/or impact on the Union as a whole.

The Commission is in a better position than any single Member State to identify and channel good practices. In many instances, therefore, support measures delivered to the Member States have been improved by the exchange of good practices among the Member States and between Member States and international organisations. This also enabled efficiency gains, as positive results in one Member State could be implemented in another.

Support measures implemented under the SRSP 2018 are expected to generate European added value, as the following examples illustrate 42 .

·45% of support measures are expected to have an impact on cross-border or Union-wide challenges:

othe same support measures are being provided under the SRSP 2018 to three different Member States in the area of health system reform (aiming to extend coverage and effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening programmes and contribute to a reduction in cancer rates in the population). They address cross-border issues with cross-border solutions and respond to Union-wide challenges.

·65% are expected to complement other Union programmes 43 :

osupport measures provided under the SRSP 2018 helped a managing authority identify bottlenecks in the implementation of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), with the aim of improving its management capacity and performance.

·46% are expected to contribute to the consistent and coherent implementation of Union laws and policies:

osupport measures provided under the SRSP 2018 are helping Member States develop capital markets, ensure compliance with the EU’s environmental laws, reform the electricity market and foster decarbonisation, or develop guidelines for ensuring compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

·37% of support measures are expected to contribute to the sharing of good practices, also with a view to increasing the visibility of the programme:

osupport measures provided under the SRSP involved coaching visits from officials from other Member States which have successfully implemented spending reviews in the same policy areas as the requesting Member State.

·35% are expected to promote mutual trust between the beneficiary Member State and the Commission and between Member States:

osupport measures enabling the exchange of experiences and lessons learned between two national administrations in the field of education. The objective was to help better understand the challenges of comprehensive curricula reform fostering key competencies.

For the funds transferred to the SRSP voluntarily by Greece and Bulgaria under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation, 39% of the support measures are expected to have an impact on cross-border or Union-wide challenges, 39% are expected to contribute to the consistent and coherent implementation of Union laws and policies, 36% are expected to contribute to the sharing of good practices and 15% are expected to promote mutual trust between the beneficiary Member State and the Commission and between the Member States.

5.delivered support measures under the programme

The second year of implementation of the SRSP is already showing concrete results. By 30 November 2019, 123 of the projects implemented under both the 2017 and 2018 SRSP rounds have already delivered concrete results 44 .

Figure 18: Number of completed projects under the SRSP 2017 and 2018 rounds, per Member State

While the outputs of the individual projects are known (a draft law, strategic and legal advice, studies, training, workshops, recommendations, actions, plans, etc.), the report does not systematically evaluate the extent to which the Member State authorities have used the results of the support measures to design or implement reforms (the outcome).

The SRSS established a mechanism to evaluate the outcomes in order to assess the extent to which the support provided to Member States met its goals and to identify factors which influenced the successful delivery of the support measures.

Under this mechanism, authorities benefitting from the programme provide feedback on the support provided (the outputs) and information concerning follow-up actions taken several months after delivery of the support measures.

Some illustrative examples of actual results of the support delivered, and the use of these measures by Member States where available, are provided below.

Contribution to institutional and administrative reforms

Contribution to economic-related and social-related reforms

6.Conclusion

Structural reforms are crucial to modernising the economies of the Member States and to encourage investment, create jobs and raise living standards. The overall successful implementation of reforms requires good administrative capacity and a great sense of ownership of the reform process by the Member State concerned. The SRSP aims to help Member State authorities in their efforts to design and implement growth-enhancing reforms.

The second year of the implementation of the SRSP showed an increase in demand for the programme from Member States – 24 Member States submitted 444 requests for support (the SRSP 2017 round saw 271 requests for support from 16 Member States). This is the first indication that the support provided by the Commission is relevant and needed.

This report has also described how the Commission has implemented the measures funded under the 2018 SRSP and how it is monitoring actions finalised under both the SRSP 2017 and 2018 rounds.

Overall, the first two years of implementation of the SRSP have shown that the programme can provide the necessary assistance to the national authorities to identify and overcome certain structural weaknesses and bottlenecks in the design or implementation of reforms. Likewise, it has so far proven to be a significant tool in improving the Member States’ capacity to define more efficient processes and methodologies and/or progress towards more effective human resource management. A number of concrete examples of results and follow-up actions by the governments demonstrate this.

The increase in demand and the first positive results are some of the reasons why in November 2018, the European Parliament and the Council decided to step up the support provided and increase the SRSP budget by €80 million for 2019-2020.

While results of the support actions carried out under the SRSP contribute to the reform process however, effective follow-up of such actions in terms of concretisation of reforms remain the prerogative of the recipient Member State.

In the years to come, the Commission will continue to monitor the uptake of the support measures, as well as the implementation of institutional, administrative and growth-enhancing reforms.

ANNEX I

List of support measures implemented under SRSP 2018

Governance and public administration

Assistance in introducing modern methods of training at the National Institute of Administration (INA)

Increasing efficiency of the institutions of the public sector

Capacity building for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) officers in the civil service

Monitoring and evaluation of public administration reform

Introduction of a workforce planning process in the public sector

Monitoring the performance and implementation of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)

Creation of objective criteria on recruitment and promotion of judges

Infrastructure consolidation

Internal audit and control methodology

Building capacity on digital public service take-up

Development of e-catalogues for e-procurement

Implementation of the anti-corruption action plan

Support for the implementation of the national digital strategy

Efficiency and quality of the justice system

Public procurement reform

Re-engineering of processes with a focus on procurement

Compliance of MoC IT systems with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Improve administrative capacity of the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council

Public service reform: human resources and innovation

Capacity building for the Chief Information Officers Office

Development of labs for administrative simplification, human resources and administrative branding

Promoting e-Justice

Support for the reform of audit performance

Reform of anti-cyber crime legislation

Justice integrated information and management system

IT functions supporting efficient justice sector systems

Improving the efficiency of whistleblowing mechanism

Study on government websites/portals

Anti-money laundering training

Asset location and recovery system

Growth and business environment

Implementing electricity balancing guideline

Developing economic diplomacy

Promotion of energy audits in SMEs

Coastal management and protection

Improving inland navigation and traffic conditions in the port area

Improving inland waterway transport

Operationalisation of destination management organisations

Reform of concessions through public-private partnerships

Support for the reform of the creative industry sector

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) governance and performance

Climate policy support for the administration

Enhancing water supply and sanitation systems

Feasiblity study on large cases unit (LCU) in the statistical system

Building permits through building information modelling (BIM)

SME support strategy post 2020

Regulation of gambling

A comprehensive system to provide for the digitalisation and provision of electronic services to the maritime industry

Irish freight, transport and logistics industry

Enhancing export credit

Enforcment of competition law

Regulatory policy review

Strengthening the framework for foreign direct investment and export and innovation-driven cooperation

Electricity and decarbonisation

Forestry statistical data

Transition out of coal in the Trencin region

Investment evaluation team

Supporting structural reform in the waste management sector

Improving environmental inspection work

Support for the implementation of the proactive investment attraction reform

Building information modelling (BIM) in the public real estate sector

Project pipeline development for the purposes of the investment plan for Europe

Labour market, education, health and social services

Support to the national authorities for generating diagnosis-related group (DRG) cost weights based on available data

Implementation of the colorectal screening programmes

Hospitals’ collaboration area

Services for primary health care units

Improving colorectal cancer screening

Youth integration in the labour market

Improving colorectal cancer screening

Support for the development of the primary care system

Developing an action plan and data collection methodology for the prevention of early school leaving

Capacity building for management of projects to build three regional hospitals

Recommendations on the design and implementation of a policy framework for developing ambulatory surgery

Integrated primary care

Developing an education strategy

Early identification of students at risk of early school leaving

National Labour Inspectorate (INL) capacity building

Disability assessment reform

Reform of the pension system

Reform of the medical assessment service

Provision of integrated care services

Supporting the improvement of quality in inclusive education

Development of criterion referenced tests at primary and lower secondary levels of education

Promoting quality assurance in vocational education and training (VET)

National plan for adult literacy

Support to improve the quality of dual vocational education and training (VET)

Development of a support system for the implementation of the comprehensive curricular reform

Quality assessment system of in-service teacher training provided by education and teacher training agency

Reforming the network of teacher education institutions

Promoting inclusive special education

National plan for the integration of international protection holders

Revenue administration and public financial management

Reform of the e-commerce policy

Budgetary system reform (BSR)

Working visit on e-services

Improving the quality of the state budget preparation process

Support for improving the design of tax policies in the excise sector

Municipal debt restructuring and asset management facility

Enhancing tax-benefit microsimulation models of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO)

Budget planning and key performance indicators (KPIs)

Monitoring and auditing the internet economy

Stimulating the introducation of new technologies for tax administration

Enabling framework for implementation of behavioural economics in debt collection

IT capacity building regarding dealing with preparing implementation of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), security issues regarding TA information system and IT projects quality assurance

General law of customs & excise

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) education

Missing intra trader community training

Implementation of corporate income tax (CIT) gap analysis

Independent Authority of Public Revenue (IAPR) extension of International Monetary Fund (IMF) support

Behavioural approach analysis

Transfer pricing specialised training

Strengthening the administrative capacity of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration regarding monitoring, analysis, investigation and auditing electronic commerce

Strengthening the administration of large taxpayers from the perspective of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of revenue collection process

Spending review

Financial management reform

Technical assistance in the implementation of the mid-term tax strategy

Measurement, monitoring, evaluation and compliance risk management model in the National Revenue Authority

Development and organisation of awareness raising campaigns and similar measures to reduce shadow economy

Introduction of spending reviews

VAT carousel fraud implementation

Implementation of integrated tax administration system

Financial services and access to finance

Pre listing support programme to sustainably increase SMEs access to capital markets financing in alignment with the capital markets union (CMU)

Dormant account resolution

Financial education: analysis for a web-based interactive intelligent educational platform regarding consumer decision making and purchasing process

SME equity support instrument

Creation of pre-insolvency early warning mechanisms and solutions for out-of-court settlements

Capital markets diagnostic

National non-performing loans (NPL) strategy

Designing Bank for Reconstruction and Development 's medium-term strategy

Planning of internal operational processes and procedures specific to resolution authority

Establishment of supervision of issuer's financial statements

Establishment of FinTech supportive environment

Management of financial instruments

Bank supervision data management

SME equity support instrument

Central Securities Depository: development of an authorisation and supervisory handbook

Implementation of Central Securities Depositories (CSD) legislation

ANNEX II

List of support measures funded by the voluntary transfers under Article 11

Greece

ANNEX III

progress in achieving specific objectives of the programme

Support measures funded under the SRSP 2018 are expected to contribute to the specific objectives of the programme in the following way 45 .

a)47% of support measures contribute to the design of reforms:

b)64% contribute to the formulation, development and implementation of reforms:

c)56% contribute to the definition and implementation of processes and methodologies:

d)and 19% aim to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources management:

(1)

Under Regulation (EU) 2017/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council, OJ L 129, 19.5.2017, p. 1–16, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2018/1671, OJ L 284, 12.11.2018, p. 3–5 (the SRSP Regulation).

(2)

Article 7 of the SRSP Regulation.

(3)

In accordance with Article 16 of the SRSP Regulation.

(4)

In accordance with Article 7 of the SRSP Regulation.

(5)

Point (f) of Article 16 was added by Regulation (EU) 2018/1671, amending Regulation (EU) 2017/825 (see below).

(6)

 On 6 December 2017, the Commission proposed amending the SRSP Regulation to increase the budget of the programme by €80 million and add support for euro-area membership to the goals to which the programme contributes. Regulation (EU) 2018/1671 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/825 increasing the financial envelope of the Structural Reform Support Programme and adapting its general objective entered into force on 13 November 2018 (OJ L 284, 12.11.2018, p. 3–5).

(7)

Excluding support expenditure.

(8)

A Member State wishing to contribute additional funds to the SRSP under Article 11 should submit a formal letter requesting to transfer technical assistance funds to the SRSP. After the request for transfer of funds is approved, the Member State concerned can submit requests for support under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation. The Commission will assess and approve these requests in accordance with the criteria and principles laid down in the SRSP Regulation. The support provided to the Member State under Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation will be mentioned in a separate annex to the cooperation and support plan concluded with that Member State.

(9)

In accordance with Article 4 of the SRSP Regulation.

(10)

The general objective of the programme was amended by Regulation No 2018/1671, which entered into force on 13 November 2018. However, submission of requests for support under the 2018 SRSP round took place before the amendment entered into force. How the amended general objective of the programme has been achieved will therefore be covered in the next annual monitoring report (since it applies to requests for support submitted for funding under the SRSP 2019 annual budget).

(11)

In accordance with Article 5 of the SRSP Regulation.

(12)

For the full list, please refer to Article 5(2) of the SRSP Regulation.

(13)

In accordance with Article 3 of the SRSP Regulation.

(14)

In accordance with Article 6 of the SRSP Regulation.

(15)

Regulation (EU) 2017/825 of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 May 2017 on the establishment of the Structural Reform Support Programme for the period 2017 to 2020 entered into force on 20 May 2017.

(16)

Commission Implementing Decision on the adoption of the work programme for 2018 and on the financing of Structural Reform Support Programme, 2018, C(2018) 1358 final.

(17)

In line with Article 13(5) of the SRSP Regulation.

(18)

The implementation period covered by thise report (of the support measures selected for funding in 2018) is 31 August 2017 - 31 November 2019.

(19)

In line with Article 7(1) of the SRSP Regulation.

(20)

In accordance with Article 7(3) of the SRSP Regulation.

(21)

 The role of the coordinating authorities is defined in section 18.2 of the cooperation and support plans signed with all Member States benefiting from the programme.

(22)

As estimated by the Member States.

(23)

Number of requests submitted by 31 October 2019.

(24)

The exact split was the following: 55% related to the EU economic governance process, 29% to the implementation of Union priorities, 8% to the implementation of Member States’ own priorities, 6% to the implementation of Union law and 3% to the implementation of economic adjustment programmes.

(25)

In accordance with Article 7(2) of the SRSP Regulation.

(26)

Defined in Article 7(2) of the SRSP Regulation.

(27)

 These socio-economic indicators may be macro-economic indicators, general indicators or indicators related to the policy area concerned, such as unemployment rate, number of early education leavers, number of people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion, investment rates, non-performing loans rates, etc.

(28)

When lower-scored requests (one or several major weaknesses) were selected, it was because of the importance of the reform and relative urgency in that particular country.

(29)

In line with Article 7 of the SRSP Regulation.

(30)

The content of the CSPs is further defined in section 18.2 and in part VII of the cooperation and support plans.

(31)

The estimated global contribution per Member State is purely indicative. The final amounts depend on how contracts, withdrawals, cancellations, etc, develop.

(32)

In line with Article 9 of the SRSP Regulation

(33)

In accordance with Article 13(6) of the SRSP Regulation.

(34)

In line with Article 13(6) of the SRSP Regulation ‘special measures are interim in nature, and […] shall end within six months […]’.

(35)

In line with Article 13 of the SRSP Regulation.

(36)

In accordance with the Commission Implementing Decision on the adoption of the work programme for 2018 and on the financing of Structural Reform Support Programme (C(2018) 1358 final) direct grants may be awarded to international organisations and Member States bodies and other bodies with a public service mission which, in view of the nature of the action, have recognised and relevant technical competence, high degrees of specialisation or administrative power in various thematic areas under the SRSP.

(37)

 TAIEX is the Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument. TAIEX supports public administrations in the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices, https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/tenders/taiex_en

(38)

In accordance with Article 4 of the SRSP Regulation.

(39)

According to Article 16 of the SRSP Regulation, the Commission shall provide an independent mid-term evaluation report with information on the achievement of the programme's objectives, the efficiency of the use of the resources and the programme’s European added value, as well as the continued relevance of objectives and actions.

(40)

Some external factors, such as changes in the political priorities of Member States, may influence the implementation of the support measures and there is therefore a risk that reforms for which support had been provided are not implemented in the end. For this reason, the causal link between the support measures provided under the programme and the achievement of the general objective has to be determined on a case-by-case basis and by taking account of external influencing factors.

(41)

Each support measure can contribute to more than one specific objective, which is why the sum of the figures appear to amount to more than 100%. See Annex III for a more detailed listing.

(42)

Each support measure can contribute to more than one element relevant to European added value.

(43)

Other Union funds or programmes, such as the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) or other Community programmes.

(44)

The implementation period covered by this report (of support measures selected for funding in 2018) is 31 August 2017 - 31 October 2019.

(45)

Each support measure can contribute to more than one specific objective.