Europees Semester

With the revision of the EU economic governance framework, which is built around the European Semester, the latter has also been adapted and strengthened in its coordination of the economic, budgetary, employment and social policies of the Member States. From 2024, national medium-term fiscal structural plans will replace the former national reform programmes and stability/convergence programmes. These plans, which have to be submitted by 20 September, should detail the reforms and investment that countries intend to adopt in order to strengthen sustainable growth, and should address the main challenges (digital, green and social) identified in the context of the European Semester (and in particular the country-specific recommendations (CSRs). The EESC sees a number of opportunities in this review and calls in particular for greater transparency in the Semester, for appropriate involvement of organised civil society and for proper monitoring of the implementation of medium-term fiscal structural plans. 

Enhancing the resilience and sustainability of the EU economy has become more important than ever in light of the challenges that the EU is currently facing: recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, softening the effects of the war in Ukraine on the EU economy, while tackling inflation, the energy crisis and implementing the digital and green transitions.

When NextGenerationEU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) were set up, the EESC's European Semester Group (ESG) welcomed them and stressed the need to link these tools to the European semester's policy framework, the functioning of which would probably need to be overhauled as a result of the introduction of these new tools. Furthermore, the ESG continues to see these tools as an effective way of taking European integration one step forward, while at the same time pointing out means of overcoming the crises currently facing the European Union.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility is moving into its next phase, and the European Semester Group of the EESC is following the process. In this high-level conference we will discuss whether the national recovery and resilience plans will deliver as regards the aim of achieving fair, inclusive, competitive and sustainable growth and cohesion through the new growth strategy – the European Green Deal. Focus will be on the implementation of the national recovery and resilience plans, with particular attention on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the just transition towards a green, digital and sustainable European economy. The conclusions of this event will be forwarded to EU institutions and the "EU Recovery Summit" conference in Lisbon on 28 June 2021.