Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on Belgium’s 2013 national reform programme and delivering a Council opinion on Belgium’s stability programme for 2012-2016

On 28 November 2012, the Commission adopted the Annual Growth Survey, marking the start of the 2013 European Semester for economic policy coordination. Also on 28 November 2012, the Commission, on the basis of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011, adopted the Alert Mechanism Report, in which it identified Belgium as one of the Member States for which an in-depth review would be carried out.

On 10 April 2013, the Commission published the results of its in-depth review for Belgium, under Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011 on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances. The Commission’s analysis leads it to conclude that Belgium is experiencing macroeconomic imbalances, which deserve monitoring and policy action. In particular, macroeconomic developments in the areas of external competitiveness of goods, and indebtedness, especially concerning the implications of the high level of public debt for the real economy, continue to deserve attention.

On 29 April 2013, Belgium submitted its 2013 stability programme covering the period 2012-2016 and its 2013 national reform programme. In order to take account of their interlinkages, the two programmes have been assessed at the same time.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)351: Follow the progress of this recommendation through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:351:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)351: Assessment of the 2013 national reform programme and stability programme for Belgium http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:351:FIN

ESO: Background Information: Website: Stability and covergence programmes submitted by member states 2006- http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-stability-and-convergence-programmes-1998/

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