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The Council today issued recommendations to 23 Member States on the economic and employment policies set out in their national reform programmes, and opinions on their fiscal policies, as presented in their stability/convergence programmes (11505/1/13 REV 1). It also issued a specific recommendation on the economic policies of the Member States of the euro area. (11216/13).
Adoption of the texts, generally endorsed by the European Council on 27 and 28 June, concludes this year's European Semester monitoring exercise.
In accordance with the "comply or explain" principle introduced in 2011 in the "six-pack" reform of policy monitoring, the Council issued explanations in cases where its country-specific recommendations do not comply with those proposed by the Commission (11336/13).
Priorities for this year's European Semester were established by the European Council in March. Given the stagnation of economic activity forecast for 2013 and the unacceptably high levels of unemployment, the European Council emphasised the need to accelerate efforts to support growth as a matter of priority whilst pursuing growth-friendly fiscal consolidation.
The European Semester involves simultaneous monitoring by the Commission of the Member States' economic, employment and fiscal policies during a six-month period every year. In the light of policy guidance from the European Council in March, the Member States present their national reform programmes and stability/convergence programmes annually in April.
The national reform programmes contain a macro-economic scenario for the medium term, national targets for implementing the "Europe 2020" strategy for jobs and growth, identification of the main obstacles to growth, and measures for concentrating growth-enhancing initiatives in the short term.
The stability and convergence programmes set out medium-term budgetary objectives, the main assumptions about expected economic developments, a description of fiscal and economic policy measures, and an analysis of how changes in assumptions will affect fiscal and debt positions.