Brussels, 19 September 2023
Today, in Bratislava, the Commission has launched a project helping Slovakia simplify and speed up the use of their cohesion funds. The project will explore how to reduce red tape, enhance accountability, boost the administrative capacity of stakeholders, and better meet the needs of EU funds’ beneficiaries.
This support follows a request from the Slovak Government to benefit from the Commission’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI). Slovakia wishes to review their existing legal framework for the implementation of Cohesion Policy funds, including the current management and control systems. These funds are crucial to enhance economic and social development, reduce regional imbalances and contribute to a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The project will help the Slovak authorities develop and implement an action plan, which aims to increase the use of EU Funds by providing specific recommendations for their most effective management. The project will reach out to a wide range of stakeholders involved in the management and implementation of the funds but also to key public beneficiaries of cohesion Funds. The project will last until March 2025, and its results will be shared with other Member States.
The TSI is the Commission’s main instrument to provide technical support to reforms in the EU, following requests by national authorities. It is part of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and of the Recovery Plan for Europe. It builds on the success of its predecessor, the Structural Reform Support Programme which, since 2017, has implemented together with the TSI more than 1,500 technical support projects in all Member States.
Further details are available online.
Source – EU Commission