Strengthening the Rule of Law Through Administrative Support: The Technical Support Instrument and Its Precedents

This chapter investigates the role of administrative support in strengthening the capacity building of the Member States in the implementation of the European Union law and policies. By evaluating the role of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) and its predecessors, this chapter highlights how the administrative support has evolved from targeting specific countries for macroeconomic support to a broader function in strengthening the capacity of the Member States in the implementation of administrative reforms. Actually, the TSI is strongly interconnected with the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and offers support for those Member States which ask for it. Hence, this instrument of soft law might be considered only indirectly related to the rule of law since, by granting support, the EU aims at triggering those reforms which may be connected to the implementation of EU law explicitly connected to the protection of the rule of law.