News

28. 4. 202212:04

The National Reform Programme 2022 was approved by the Czech Government

On 27 May the Government adopted the National Reform Programme of the Czech Republic 2022 (NRP). The NRP is prepared annually within the EU economic policy coordination mechanism (so-called European Semester). The NRP describes the reforms and investments that the Government plans to implement in the next approximately 12 months. The NRP also newly informs about the progress in implementation of the Czech Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) due to which the Czech Republic receives financial support from the so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility. In addition, the NRP includes the overview of government measures in response to the situation in Ukraine.

The NRP involves measures that fulfil national and EU priorities in sectors as green transition and digital transformation. The green transition is crucial for the Czech Republic, among others, because of target on the reduction of import dependency on the fossil fuels from Russia. The aim of the measures in the NRP is to build up modern, efficient and digitized state, which is able to respond to current and future economic and social challenges.

However, war in Ukraine and related refugee crisis place a high demand on strengthening and streamlining of social, educational and health public services. The NRP for example describes a measures for early childhood care services support and increasing the quality and availability of pre-school education, support for children groups, reducing regional disparities within the education system or housing support related to the acceleration of the construction processes.

As in previous years, the preparation of NRP 2021 was inclusive with the involvement of economic and social partners, representatives of municipalities and other relevant stakeholders. They had the opportunity to participate in an online round table discussion or comment the draft of the NRP.

In the next phase of European Semester cycle, the so-called spring package will be published. The spring package contains analytical documents like Country Reports, Country Specific Recommendations and other established European Semester documents. The European Commission plans to publish this spring package in late May.