Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on the implementation of the broad guidelines for the economic policies of the Member States whose currency is the euro

Sustaining and strengthening the development of the euro area requires continued policy efforts to support a balanced adjustment in the private and public sectors and increase the economy’s growth potential in the medium to long term. While economic recovery in the euro area is on-going, it is hampered by legacies of the recent economic and financial crises, including ongoing external rebalancing, high levels of public and private debt and related deleveraging pressures, persistent structural rigidities in national labour and product markets, high unemployment, and low confidence, and a persistent weakness in investment. So far, implementation of the reforms set out in the country-specific recommendations has not been sufficiently ambitious.

The euro area is more than just the sum of its members. The euro area economies are closely interrelated, underscoring the need for stronger coordination of fiscal, financial and structural policies. The policy stance at the euro area level should promote growth, while at the same time ensuring that the progress made in rebalancing is not jeopardised. Euro area Member States have a specific responsibility for effective implementation of the governance framework, which has been significantly strengthened in recent years. This calls for increased peer pressure to support national reform implementation and fiscal prudence. It also calls for greater assessment of national reforms from a euro area perspective, internalising potential spillovers and stimulating policies of particular importance for a well-functioning Economic and Monetary Union.

Notwithstanding the recent achievements in strengthening the EMU architecture, current challenges call for progress in completing its design. Further developing EMU will require a step by step approach combining discipline with solidarity. The President of the Commission, together with the Presidents of the European Council, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, and the Eurogroup, will prepare the next steps on better economic governance in the euro area.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)251: Follow the progress of this recommendation through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:251:FIN

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