| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2016) 374 final (7.6.16) |
| Publication Date | 07/06/2016 |
| Content Type | Policy-making, Report |
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Article 140(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires the Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) to report to the Council, at least once every two years, or at the request of a Member State with a derogation, on the progress made by the Member States in fulfilling their obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union. The 2016 Convergence Report covers the following seven Member States with a derogation: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. A more detailed assessment of the state of convergence in those Member States is provided in a Technical Annex to this report. The content of the reports prepared by the Commission and the ECB is governed by Article 140(1) TFEU. This Article requires the reports to include an examination of the compatibility of national legislation, including the statutes of the national central bank, with Articles 130 and 131 TFEU and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (ESCB/ECB Statute). The reports must also examine whether a high degree of sustainable convergence has been achieved in the Member State concerned by reference to the fulfilment of the convergence criteria (price stability, public finances, exchange rate stability, long-term interest rates), and by taking account of other factors mentioned in the final sub-paragraph of Article 140(1) TFEU. The financial and economic crisis, along with the euro-area sovereign debt crisis, has exposed gaps in the economic governance system of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and showed that its instruments need to be used more comprehensively. With the aim of ensuring a sustainable functioning of EMU, an overall strengthening of economic governance in the Union has been undertaken. The assessment of convergence is thus aligned with the broader European Semester approach which takes an integrated look at the economic policy challenges facing the EMU in ensuring fiscal sustainability, competitiveness, financial market stability and economic growth. The key innovations in the area of governance reform, reinforcing the assessment of each Member State's convergence process and its sustainability, include inter alia the strengthening of the excessive deficit procedure by the 2011 reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and new instruments in the area of surveillance of macroeconomic imbalances. In particular, this report takes into account the assessment of the 2016 Convergence Programmes and the findings under the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. |
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| Source Link | http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:374:FIN |
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| Subject Categories | Economic and Financial Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
