The iAGS report 2014 – From austerity to stagnation – How to avoid the deflation trap

This report is an alternative piece of work challenging the European Commission's Annual Growth Survey (AGS), a centre-piece in the annual European Semester process. The AGS is the basis for the formulation of the EU's annual growth strategy, which guides the whole policy process up to the national stability and growth programmes, and reform programmes, between November until June of the following year.

The AGS has been the main vehicle through which the European Commission has advocated the drastic austerity strategy which has dominated the European economic agenda for several years.

In November 2013, a first 'iAGS' was produced by three independent economic institutes:
- OFCE (Observatoire Français de Conjoncture Economique), Paris
- IMK (Institut für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung), Düsseldorf
- ECLM (Economic Council of the Labour Movement), Copenhagen

The iAGS 2014 was released in December 2013, entitled 'From Austerity to Stagnation – How to avoid the deflation trap'. The report stated that '...the policies conducted so far, in particular austerity, have failed and ...such a failure has a cost' and developed a fully-fledged alternative economic strategy for Europe to escape stagnation.

ESO: Background information: Communication From The Commission. Annual Growth Survey 2014 http://www.europeansources.info/record/communication-from-the-commission-annual-growth-survey-2014/

European Commission: Europe 2020: Making it happen: Priorities at EU level: Annual Growth Survey http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/making-it-happen/annual-growth-surveys/index_en.htm

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