Building on Part I of this study, which assesses the implementation of four temporary crisis instruments established in response to COVID-19 –CRII, CRII+, REACT-EU, and SURE – this second part of the study investigates alternative approaches to strengthening the EU budget’s capacity to address future crises and examines the implications of these approaches for control and accountability. Specifically, the study addresses the following key questions:

• How can we mitigate risks related to the repeated use of the cohesion policy to address crises, which may detract from its primary strategic goal?
• What ex-ante and ex-post measures could improve the balance between speed and flexibility, on the one hand, and sound financial management and performance control, on the other, when implementing crisis-related instruments that stem from the EU budget?
• What policy options could strengthen the EU’s budgetary capacity to respond effectively to crises? And what options should be considered if SURE were to become a permanent feature of the EU policy landscape?