Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on Croatia’s 2014 national reform programme and delivering a Council opinion on Croatia’s 2014 convergence programme

Croatia participated in the 2013 European Semester on a voluntary and informal basis by submitting an economic programme; there were no country-specific recommendations. On 21 June 2013, the Council adopted conclusions welcoming Croatia's economic programme, emphasising that Croatia is expected to progress towards meeting the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact and that it needs to embark on a credible consolidation path, whilst safeguarding growth-enhancing expenditure and ensuring room for co-financing the inflow of EU funds.

On 13 November 2013, the Commission adopted the Annual Growth Survey, marking the start of the 2014 European Semester of economic policy coordination. On the same day on the basis of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011, the Commission adopted the Alert Mechanism Report, in which it identified Croatia as one of the Member States for which an in-depth review would be carried out.

On 5 March 2014, the Commission published the results of its in-depth review for Croatia, under Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011. The Commission's analysis leads it to conclude that Croatia is experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances, which require specific monitoring and strong policy action. In particular, policy action is required in view of the vulnerabilities arising from sizeable external liabilities, declining export performance, highly leveraged firms and fast-increasing general government debt, all within a context of low growth and poor adjustment capacity.

On 24 April 2014, Croatia submitted its 2014 national reform programme and its 2014 convergence programme. In order to take account of their interlinkages, the two programmes have been assessed at the same time.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2014)412: Assessment of the 2014 national reform programme and convergence programme for Croatia http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:412:FIN

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)412: Follow the progress of this recommendation through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:412: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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