Questions and answers on the 2025 Technical Support Instrument

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

What is the Technical Support Instrument?

The Commission’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI) provides support to Member States to help them design and implement reforms.

The TSI is demand-driven, meaning that its support follows requests submitted by the Member States. It does not come in the form of financial support but consists instead of the provision of high-quality and tailored expertise and knowledge.

The TSI is part of the 2021 – 2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). It promotes economic, social, and territorial cohesion across the EU by supporting the necessary reforms in the Member States.

Over the years TSI has provided technical support to all 27 Member States with more than 2000  reforms across a wide range of policy areas.

How much funding will each Member State receive?

The TSI has a budget of €864 million for seven years. For 2025, the budget amounts to almost €117 million.

The Commission does not provide direct financial support to Member States and there are no predetermined national envelopes. Instead, it provides expertise to support the design and implementation of reforms. The reforms themselves are funded by national means or via other EU funds, such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Cohesion Policy funds.

The expertise delivered by the Commission under the TSI does not require national co-funding. The success of the support relies instead on the commitment and ownership of the Member States’ authorities. In many cases, the support is offered by teams of external and Commission experts (from the European Commission’s Reform and Investment Task Force – SG REFORM and/or other Commission services) who are specifically asked to work on each project and provide tailor-made support.

What kind of reforms are eligible under the TSI?

The TSI can support a broad range of reform projects related to Member States’ public authorities at the level of government, including those at regional and local level.

Eligible policy areas for reform support include:

• green and digital transitions;
• public financial management, tax policies and revenue administration;
• governance, public administration and rule of law, including the reforms of judicial systems;
• business environment, growth, trade and investments;
• labour market, education and social services, including migration management and integration;
• healthcare, welfare and childcare;
• financial sector and access to finance;
• data and statistics; and
• preparation for membership of the Euro area.

How can a Member State apply for reform support?

Every year, Member States can request support from the TSI through the annual call published by the Commission.

For 2025, 135 reform projects were selected to support all Member States with 390 innovative and ambitious reforms.

How does the Commission choose which reform projects to support among the many requests that it receives from the Member States?

TSI projects are selected on the basis of the quality of the requests and based on the criteria set out in the TSI Regulation. In line with the selection criteria defined in Article 9 of the TSI Regulation, the Commission assesses each request for:

• urgency, breadth and depth of the challenges identified;
• support needs in respect of the policy areas concerned;
• analysis of socioeconomic indicators, as well as the institutional and general administrative capacity of the requesting Member State; and
• the principles of transparency, equal treatment, and sound financial management.

How does the reform support work in practice?

The support may cover all stages of reforms, from their initial design to their implementation and evaluation phase. It can take the form of strategic or technical advice, studies assessing reform needs, training or in-country missions by experts.

The support delivered through the TSI:

• starts with a request submitted by the Member State. Their commitment and engagement are key for the success of the reforms;
• is tailored to each case and each country. The Commission identifies and analyses the specific needs in each case;
• brings a unique combination of expertise to the country. The Commission matches the best mix of expertise to the needs;
• is hands-on and concrete in delivery. Upon receipt of a request for support, the Commission starts a dialogue with the Member State to understand the reform needs in detail and how to best provide the most relevant support in the swiftest and best possible way;
• strengthens the institutional and administrative capacity of EU Member States to (i) design and implement reforms, (ii) deliver on policy priorities, (iii) address challenges identified in the European Semester, or (iv) apply EU law.

What is a multi-country project?

Multi-country projects deliver support to several Member States to address common challenges. These projects promote the development of common approaches via peer-to-peer learning and the exchange of best practices.

For example, in 2025, fourteen EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden, will join forces to participate in a TSI multi-country project which will focus on improving the capacity in Member States to effectively implement EU tax legislation on minimum level of taxation of 15% to large corporations in the European Union. The objective of the project is to ensure a high quality, timely and effective implementation of this legislation.

In 2025, a total of 40 multi-country projects will be supported by the TSI.

Topics include, for example:

• EU Supervisory Digital Finance Academy
•  The use of AI in auditing EU funds 
• Supporting Digital Transformation in Competition Law Enforcement
• Futureproof Education: Supporting schools in the AI evolution
• A new strategy for the social economy
• PACE – Public Administration Cooperation Exchange
• Technical support for the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• Evidence-informed policy making for green and digital transitions
• Implementation of the National Housing Policy Plan with a focus on Affordable Housing Models
• Workforce Future Skills Portal
• Improving employment services to citizens and businesses through the use of Artificial Intelligence
• Developing green and deep tech start-ups and scale-ups

What is a flagship project?

Flagship projects are proposed yearly by the European Commission to tackle reforms which are largely needed across different Member States and are in line with the EU’s key political priorities. Their uptake by Member States is entirely voluntary.

In 2025, 15 TSI flagship projects will be supported:

• ComPAct – Pillar I – Skills for public administration systems
• ComPAct – Pillar II – Capacity for Europe’s Digital Decade
• ComPAct – Pillar III – Greening Public Administration
• Economic Security in Technologies and Resources (ESTER)
• Innovative Public Financial Management
• EU Health Hub – Investing in Resilient Health System
• EU Supervisory Digital Finance Academy
• Improving Sustainability Reporting for Businesses
• Making Energy Systems Fit for the Green and Digital Transition
• PACE – Public Administration Cooperation Exchange
• Simplifying Revenue Administration for Businesses
• Single Market and Competitiveness
• Support implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact
• Supporting the Resilience of Natural Resources
• Addressing Demographic Change Through Reforms

Can you give an example of a flagship project that will be supported by the TSI in 2025?

Reforms for better and more efficient public administrations represent a policy area where the interest of the Member States remains strong. Responding to this need, the TSI will help EU Member States to improve their public administration under 3 ComPAct flagships.

This is in line with the Commission communication on Enhancing the European Administrative Space which aims to support public administrations become more resilient, innovative, and skilled.

In 2025, the TSI will help improve skills of civil servants in public administration in 14 countries, under the flagship ComPAct – Pillar I – Skills for public administration systems 

10 countries will benefit from TSI support for their public administration to become more digital, as part of the flagship ComPAct – Pillar II – Capacity for Europe’s Digital Decade

Furthermore, 3 countries will receive technical support for greening the public administration, as part of the flagship ComPAct – Pillar III – Greening Public Administration.

How does the TSI support the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs)?

So far, the TSI has supported all Member States with the preparation and implementation of their RRPs, through more than 500 projects. These projects have helped Member States put in place the necessary structures to manage and monitor the implementation of their RRPs, as well as to implement reforms included in the Plans.

17 Member States received support for identifying reforms and investments to reduce dependencies on fossil fuel imports from Russia and to develop the REPowerEU chapters in their RRPs.

How does the TSI help EU Member States to address the country-specific recommendations from the European Semester?

When submitting requests for TSI support, Member States need to provide the underlying motivation for their reform needs, which can be linked, for example to the country-specific recommendations from the European Semester, the implementation of EU-law or the national priorities.

Furthermore, reforms and investments contained in the Recovery and Resilience Plans are well aligned with the EU’s strategic priorities and address country-specific challenges identified within the European Semester framework of economic and social policy coordination.

Can you give examples of how the TSI will support reforms related to the green transition and the the Clean Industrial deal in 2025?

In 2025, a number of 100 TSI supported reforms will help EU countries to be better prepared for the green transition. For example, TSI will support Member States to work towards cleaner air and a healthier noise climate in Ireland and Malta, to implement effective green budgeting practices in Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ireland and Spain, to reinforce SMEs’ competitiveness and green transition in export activities in Hungary and Slovenia or improve integrated environmental monitoring of coastal wetlands in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

How is the TSI helping Member States to ensure Ukrainian refugees can access work and education?

So far, the TSI has helped nine Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia) to welcome and integrate people fleeing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. For example, in order to help the expansion of the Integration Centres for Foreigners, the TSI provided support to identify the most suitable EU funding opportunities.

Projects have helped to improve refugee’s integration and the tailoring of school curriculum to the needs of displaced pupils from Ukraine. The TSI has also helped with access to the labour market through the recognition of skills and qualifications acquired outside the EU.

Furthermore, the TSI helped 9 Member States in 2024 to prepare and implement their asylum and migration plans.