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10 October 2011

ECON Committee briefing paper: How effective and legitimate is the European Semester?


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The paper argues that a strong role for the European Parliament will increase the effectiveness of EU economic governance; even if the paper suggests that the EP involvement is limited to specific stages along the Semester cycle.


On the other hand, the report finds mixed results as regards the possibility of an increased or new collaboration between National Parliaments and the European Parliament. The present briefing paper is a first investigation into the possible role of the European Parliament in the new emerging economic governance framework. A full study also surveying evidence on the actual experience of the first Semester cycle’s follow-up will be delivered in 2012.

The European Semester is a new institutional process that provides Member States with ex-ante guidance on fiscal and structural objectives. The Semester’s goals are ambitious and it is still uncertain how it will fit into the new EU economic governance framework. ECON finds that Member States are only slowly internalising the new procedure. Furthermore, the Semester has so far lacked legitimacy due to the minor role assigned to the European Parliament, the marginal involvement of National Parliaments and the lack of transparency of the process at some stages.

Finally, there remains room to clarify the implications from a unified legal text. In fact, diluting the legal separation of recommendations on National Reform Programmes and Council opinions on Stability and Convergence Programmes may compromise effective surveillance and governance. The European Parliament has an important role to play. It needs to hold the Commission and the Council accountable. This and the overall objective of enhancing the new procedure’s effectiveness and legitimacy can be done by means of a regular Economic Dialogue on the Semester.

Full report



© European Parliament


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