ECOFIN Council results: European Semester - Annual Growth Survey
22 January 2013
The Council discussed the Commission's annual growth survey, on the basis of an issues note prepared by the Presidency. The AGS outlines five priority areas where action should be taken at both EU and Member State level. (Includes excerpt from ECON press release on Ferreira report.)
The Council discussed the Commission's annual growth survey, on the basis of an issues note prepared by the presidency. It concluded that the five priorities identified in the 2012 survey remain valid for 2013:
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pursuing differentiated growth-friendly fiscal consolidation;
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restoring normal lending to the economy;
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promoting growth and competitiveness;
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tackling unemployment and the social consequences of the crisis;
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and modernising public administration.
Draft conclusions will be prepared in the light of the Council's discussions, for adoption at its meeting on 12 February.
The Commission's annual growth survey outlines five priority areas where action should be taken at
both EU and Member State level in order to ensure better coordination and more effective policies for putting Europe's economy on a path to sustainable growth (16669/12).
The survey is the starting point for the European Semester, which involves simultaneous monitoring of the Member States' fiscal policies and structural reforms, in accordance with common rules and time schedules, during a six-month period every year.
In March, the European Council will provide guidance on the next step in the European Semester process, namely the preparation by Member States of their national reform programmes and stability and convergence programmes.
Excerpted from ECON press release:
Austerity policies pushed by the majority of EU governments in the past two years have derailed economic recovery, according to Portuguese Social Democrat Elisa Ferreira in her report on the European Commission's Annual Growth Survey 2013. The economic and monetary affairs committee will vote on her report on 22 January.
Ms Ferreira, who covers the survey on behalf of the economics committee, pleaded for taking more time to get national budgets back into shape during the debate on 28 November. "We have got to be frank and recognise that the consolidation strategy unfortunately has failed."
Olli Rehn, the commissioner responsible for the euro and economic and monetary affairs, told MEPs during the same debate: "We have come a long way in the past two or three years in reforming our economic governance. We need to continue to work for policies that will help Europe to return next year to recovery."
Press release, 21.1.13 © European Parliament
© European Council
