The European Commission welcomes today’s European Parliament vote to greenlight the Structural Reform Support Programme, a new EU programme to provide technical support to Member States.

Today’s vote paves the way towards the roll-out of the technical expertise the Commission provides for supporting Member States as they carry out reforms that help economies to grow, strengthen competitiveness, encourage investment and offer job opportunities and a better standard of living.

The programme has a budget of EUR 142.8 million over the years 2017-2020 and will require no co-financing from Member States. The support will be coordinated and offered by the Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union said: “Today’s vote paves the way for the EU to expand its technical support service providing dedicated, tailor-made expertise to help Member States design and implement important growth-enhancing reforms, on their request. There is a clear need to effectively address stubborn challenges holding back a stronger and stable economic recovery including high unemployment, low productivity and persistent disparities in growth and income across the EU. To do so requires modern, reformed economies, and institutional and administrative structures, underpinned by political will and technical knowhow. This is what the new EU programme helps to achieve.”