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Further development of EMU - Economic Policy Coordination
The Council took note of possible areas for strengthened coordination of the economic policies of the Member States, in preparation of the European Council meeting on 24 and 25 October.
The European Council will discuss the further development of the EU's economic and monetary union (EMU), assessing ongoing work in all fields. It will look at economic policy coordination and the social dimension of EMU. It is expected to take decisions in December.
A letter summarising the Council's discussion will be sent to the president of the European Council.
European Semester - lessons learned
The Council took stock of lessons learned from the 2013 European Semester monitoring exercise and possible improvements for next year's exercise. The 2013 exercise concluded on 9 July with the adoption of country-specific recommendations to the Member States. It covered a broad range of policy areas involving several Council configurations and preparatory committees.
Identifying areas for potential further improvement, a note from the Economic and Financial Committee suggests that greater attention be given to the monitoring of implementation throughout the year, and highlights pension reforms as a particular challenge (14465/13). Furthermore, the tight timeframe applied to the whole exercise continues to be a constraint, with little time for the preparatory committees to discuss and coordinate.
The next European Semester will begin next month with the publication by the Commission of its annual growth survey.
Lithuanian Presidency press release