On Monday 25 March, the European Commission published reports on the in-depth reviews of macroeconomic vulnerabilities in six Member States: Cyprus, Spain, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.
This year, in response to a request from the Council of the European Union, the in-depth reviews were presented prior to the publication of the country-specific recommendations in June. The aim is to enable detailed discussions with the countries concerned and to ensure that they incorporate the results of the reviews into the formulation of their national macroeconomic policy.
In the case of the Netherlands, for example, the EU institution notes that the levels of private debt, particularly from individuals indebted for the purchase of property, as well as the current account surplus (close to 10% of national GDP) due to an export-oriented economy, remain high. As regards Spain, the Commission sees improvements in the reduction of public and private debt levels, with the measures planned in the Spanish post-Covid-19 recovery plan helping to reduce the budgetary vulnerabilities identified.
At the launch of the 2024 edition of the ‘European Semester’ budgetary process, the European Commission announced in-depth reviews for six additional States: Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Italy and Portugal (see EUROPE 13297/16).
To see the six in-depth reviews: https://aeur.eu/f/bhu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)