News

27. 6. 20198:58

County specific recommendations - The Czech Republic 2019

European Commission representatives from the Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS), a part of the Secretariat General, came on 26 June and 27 June 2019 on a strategic mission to Prague. The role of the SRSS is to help Member States with the formulation and implementation of structural reforms with the aim of boosting employment and sustainable economic growth. The delegation was led by the Director-General of the SRSS, Maarten Verwey. It was his first visit to the Czech Republic in this role.

The State Secretary for European Affairs discussed the Structural Reform Support Programme with representatives of the European Commission.

Assistance is delivered through the Structural Support Reform Programme (SRSP). The programme was developed by the European Commission in 2017 with the intention of providing technical support to Member States during the elaboration and implementation of reforms. The programme solely pertains to public sector institutions only. The usual beneficiaries are ministries and other central authorities of the civil service. Compared to other Member States, the Czech Republic is relatively successful at obtaining SRSP funding.

The mission consisted of several working-level meetings as much as technical consultations aimed at improving specific project proposals. Commission delegates also engaged in more high-level strategic negotiations with deputy-ministers or departmental directors. Mr Verweye’s delegation met at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic with the State Secretary for European Affairs Milena Hrdinková. Meetings took place as well at the Ministry for Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Finance and at the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs. The State Secretary praised the contributions of the SRSP and its positive impact on building professional expertise in public sector institutions.

The strategic mission was also organized in light of the now fourth SRSP round, which will begin in autumn. Project applications are to be filed to Office of the Government - the Section for European Affairs, which administers the program as the national coordination authority. After the proposals are reviewed and prioritized at national level, they will then be passed on to the European Commission.