RREUSE Comments on the European Semester 2021
The European Semester [1] (ES) is an annual exchange between the Member States and the European Commission that provides a structure to coordinate macroeconomic policies across the European Union. Among other key elements, the European Semester aims at coordinating the socio-economic policies to boost growth within the EU, reduce poverty and create jobs, overall contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) [2].
The exceptional 2021 cycle of the European Semester created stronger links for the implementation of the post-pandemic recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) [3], which will drive reform and investment agendas for years to come, from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020 until December 2026. Thus, the European Semester gained additional prominence in the 2021 cycle as Member States had to submit their annual national reform programmes (NRPs) and recovery and resilience plans in a single file [4], while country specific recommendations (CSRs) were not issued for the year 2021.
National recovery and resilience plans have to answer specific criteria at the European level, namely, they have to allocate 37% for climate and 20% for digital spending, overall helping the EU achieve its 2050 target of climate neutrality and setting Europe on a path of digitalization.
At the time of writing, 22 recovery and resilience plans so far have been approved by the European Commission.
1. European Commission (2022), The European Semester (Available here).
2. European Commission (2021), The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan (Available here).
3. European Commission (2022), Recovery and Resilience Facility (Available here).
4. European Commission (2021), The Recovery and Resilience Facility (Available here).