Brussels, 07/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The very first “European semester” will be in the first half of this year, 2011. This crucial measure in the process of boosting economic governance of the European Union was decided upon in September 2010 by the EU Council of Ministers (see EUROPE 10209). It means that in the first half of each year, the member states will submit a broad outline of their budget plans for the following year to their EU peers before submitting them for formal adoption to their national parliaments. The sequence of events planned to bring the European semester on stream is very tight.
On Wednesday 12 January, the European Commission will publish its Annual Growth Review, a document that will kick off the European semester, explained a Commission spokesperson on Friday 7 January (see EUROPE 10287). The review will draw up a balance-sheet of the EU's economic challenges and make recommendations to the member states about how to overcome these challenges, added the spokesperson. The idea is to combine three issues that in the past were each examined separately, namely budget work, national structural reforms and EU 2020 reforms.
At the end of January, the Commission will submit its Annual Growth Review to the General Affairs Council of EU ministers, responsible for monitoring implementation of the EU 2020 strategy. In March, the European Council will be asked to decide on the review, setting out the main economic challenges and giving advice about suitable policies to address them. Ahead of the meeting of the heads of state, the ECOFIN Council will have made its own comments. The Hungarian Presidency has not yet indicated whether the contribution of the EU's finance ministers will be decided upon at the February or March ECOFIN Council.
The member states will use these recommendations from the European Council when drawing up their national Stability and Growth Programmes under the Stability and Growth Pact, along with their national reform programmes, particularly in the social arena and employment, covered by the EU 2020 strategy. The national Stability and Growth Programmes must include a multi-annual macroeconomic scenario, forecasts of the country's main budget variables and a description (including figures) of the budget strategy under consideration. Both programmes will be submitted to the Commission and Council of Ministers in the last fortnight in April.
Co-legislator on the package of measures preparing for the most ambitious reform yet of Economic and Monetary Union, the European Parliament aims to be involved in the implementation of the European semester and wants to get national parliaments involved because they are the leading powers when it comes to the budget. The chair of the EP's budgets committee, Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France), said that all parliaments have to be involved in running the European semester and called for the convening of an annual budget conference in May comprising the chairs of the EP's and national parliamentary budget committees. A European diplomat commented that there is “friction” about the idea of the EP being involved in running the European semester, pointing out that although the EP is co-legislator on economic governance, it does not have any role to play in the technical implementation of procedures.
Based on the European Commission's recommendations, the European Council and the Council of Ministers will draw up recommendations in June and July on the two national programmes before each country finalises its budget for the following year. The report of the ministerial taskforce on economic governance chaired by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and accepted by the European Council (see EUROPE 10247 and 10241), points out that in order to ensure that member states take greater ownership of the recommendations made in the European semester, governments should include the Council and/or Commission's recommendations when unveiling their draft budget at their country's parliament, explaining how they have incorporated them. (M.B./transl.fl)