Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission : research for REGI Committee : in-depth analysis

This in-depth analysis, requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development (REGI), focuses on technical assistance (TA) activities at the initiative of the Commission (EC) (Article 58 of the Common Provision Regulation or CPR) and aims to shed some light on the historical background of its principles and implementation, as well as on the current relationship with the management of TA activities when a Member State is facing temporary budgetary difficulties (Article 25 of the CPR). At the time of writing, the Commission has presented a proposal concerning a new 'TA programme' (i.e. the Structural Reform Support Programme), and this analysis also provides some preliminary considerations of this initiative, especially as regards the amendment of Article 25 of the CPR and the transfer of TA resources.