Building growth: Country-specific recommendations 2014
3 Jun 2014 02:45 PM
Brussels, 2 June 2014 – The
European Commission has yesterday adopted a series of economic policy
recommendations to individual Member States to strengthen the recovery that
began a year ago. The recommendations are based on detailed analyses of each
country's situation and provide guidance on how to boost growth, increase
competitiveness and create jobs in 2014-2015.
This year, the emphasis has shifted from addressing the
urgent problems caused by the crisis to strengthening the conditions for
sustainable growth and employment in a post-crisis economy. As part of
yesterday's package, which marks the culmination of the fourth European
Semester of economic policy coordination, the Commission has also adopted
several decisions on Member States' public finances under the Stability and
Growth Pact. Taken together, they represent an ambitious set of reforms for the
EU economy.
President José Manuel Barroso said:
"This is about helping Member States firmly out of the crisis and back
to growth, with the country-specific recommendations acting as a compass
showing the direction. The efforts and sacrifices made across Europe have
started to pay off. Growth is picking up and - while still too modest - we will
see a rise in employment from this year onwards. The fundamental challenge for
the EU now is political: How do we keep up support for reform as the pressure
of the crisis recedes? If politicians show leadership and summon the political
will to see reform through – even if it is unpopular - we can deliver a
stronger recovery and a better standard of living for
everyone."
According to the Commission's analysis, sustained
policy efforts at all levels in recent years have put the EU economy on much
firmer ground. However, growth will remain uneven and fragile over 2014-2015,
so the momentum for reform must be maintained. Over the longer term, the
EU's growth potential is still relatively low: high unemployment levels and
the difficult social situation will only improve slowly and the large
investment gap will take time to be filled.
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