Does the European Semester deliver the right policy advice?

The European Semester, a yearly cycle of economic policy coordination inaugurated in 2011, lies at the heart of the European Union’s new economic governance framework. It starts with the setting of the main priorities by the European Commission in the ‘Annual Growth Survey’, followed by the submission and assessment of EU member state National Reform Programmes and Stability and Convergence Programmes. It concludes with country-specific recommendations and recommendations for the euro area as a whole.

The third European Semester was concluded by the Council recommendations on 9 July 2013. This Briefing Paper, assesses the main fiscal and macro-structural challenges and recommendations for the euro area and its member states.