From consultation to delivery: strengthening the European Semester through partnership and competitiveness

The EESC has adopted a Resolution on the reform and investment proposals formulated as part of the 2025–2026 European Semester cycle, building upon the extensive consultation exercise carried out by the European Semester Group (ESG) across all 27 Member States.

As President of the European Semester Group and co-rapporteur of both the Information Report and the Resolution, I believe the exercise has delivered a clear message: the challenge Europe faces today is no longer the identification of priorities, it is implementation.

The consultation gathered contributions from national economic and social councils, social partners and civil society organisations throughout the European Union. While stakeholders broadly recognise the relevance of the Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) and the strategic direction of EU economic governance, they consistently point to a gap between policy design and policy delivery.

One of the Resolution’s central recommendations is therefore to strengthen the involvement of social partners and civil society organisations throughout the European Semester cycle. Consultation cannot remain a procedural obligation. It must become a genuine driver of policy success.

Employers, workers and organised civil society possess practical knowledge of economic realities, labour market developments and investment needs. Their contribution should not be limited to commenting on plans once decisions have already been taken. Instead, they should be involved at every stage of the policy cycle: design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The Resolution also calls for significant improvements in the quality and timing of consultations. Across Europe, stakeholders report that consultations are often organised too late, with insufficient information and limited capacity to influence final outcomes.

To address this, the EESC recommends investing in capacity-building for social dialogue and civil society participation, improving access to transparent and comparable data, and establishing a European code of good practice for consultations within the framework of the European Semester and the preparation of national plans.

Equally important is the introduction of a mandatory assessment of the quality and impact of stakeholder involvement. Success should not be measured merely by the number of meetings organised or documents circulated. The key question is whether stakeholder input has effectively shaped final programmes and reforms.

From the Employers’ Group perspective, another priority emerges clearly from both the consultation exercise and the Resolution: Europe must focus more strongly on competitiveness and productivity.

The European Semester should become a more effective instrument for identifying barriers to growth, investment and innovation. This includes integrating the Single Market dimension more systematically into the Semester process and Country-Specific Recommendations.

The completion of the Single Market, particularly in services, energy, capital and digital markets, remains one of Europe’s greatest untapped opportunities. Likewise, progress on the Capital Markets Union should become a more visible benchmark within the Semester framework. Europe cannot close its investment gap or strengthen its industrial base without mobilising significantly more private capital.

The Resolution therefore advocates a positive incentive-based approach. Rather than relying on punitive conditionality, the European Semester should identify strategic bottlenecks while the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) provides targeted support to overcome them.

The consultation also highlighted growing concerns regarding administrative complexity. Businesses, public administrations, social partners and civil society organisations alike report excessive reporting obligations, fragmented procedures and disproportionate compliance burdens.

This is why the Resolution calls for a radical simplification of delivery mechanisms. Audit, monitoring and reporting systems must remain robust, but they must also be proportionate and designed around results rather than bureaucracy.

Finally, the Resolution recognises that Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy are increasingly interconnected. Economic strength, social cohesion, human capital and environmental sustainability should not be treated as competing objectives but as mutually reinforcing pillars of Europe’s future prosperity.

In a world characterised by geopolitical uncertainty, technological disruption and growing global competition, Europe must move beyond discussing reforms and focus on delivering them.

The message emerging from stakeholders across Europe is therefore clear: strengthen implementation, improve participation, simplify delivery and reinforce competitiveness.

Europe does not need more strategies, it needs results.

By Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, President of the EESC European Semester Group (ESG), EESC Employers’ Group member and Rapporteur of Opinion ECO/692 The EESC's recommendations on the reform and investment proposals formulated as part of the 2025-2026 European Semester cycle.