Final agreement reached on strengthening EU support for reforms in Member States

The European Commission welcomes yesterday’s signature between the European Parliament and the Council, sealing an agreement on increasing the budget of the Structural Reform Support Programme.

It will enable the EU to respond to higher-than-expected demand from Member States and allow targeted support to Member States wishing to adopt the euro. The signature comes at a time when the Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service reaches an important milestone – 3 years since its establishment.

Over this period, the service has successfully provided support, through the Structural Support Programme and other sources, for almost 500 reform projects in 25 EU Member States.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: “Our economic destinies are bound together by the internal market and the euro. Reforms have therefore become a matter of common concern. EU support for reforms in Member States has proven effective – in the first three years since the establishment of our Structural Reform Support Service, we have engaged in almost 500 reform projects in 25 Member States. Today’s final agreement on the strengthening of the Structural Reform Support Programme is a major step towards enabling us to step up our support, and further help modernise European economies and boost their competitiveness, growth potential and capacity to adjust to changing times.” 

The proposal to strengthen the Structural Reform Support Programme is part of European Commission’s package of proposals of 6 December 2017 to deepen Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union.

The Structural Reform Support Programme entered into force in May 2017 with a budget of €142.8 million for the years 2017-2020. The Programme is available to all EU Member States upon their request and provides tailor-made expertise on the practical aspects of reforms.

With today’s agreement, the budget will increase to €222.8 million until 2020 and also provide targeted support for reforms in Member States wishing to adopt the euro. The report on the 3 years of the SRSS is available here.