The European Semester
The European Semester of the European Union was established in 2010 as an annual cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination. It provides a central framework of processes within the EU socio-economic governance. The European Semester is a core component of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and it annually aggregates different processes of control, surveillance and coordination of budgetary, fiscal, economic and social policies. It also offers a large space for discussions and interactions between the European institutions and Member States. As a recurrent cycle of budgetary cooperation among the EU Member States, it runs from November to June and is preceded in each country by a national semester running from July to October in which the recommendations introduced by the Commission and approved by the Council are to be adopted by national parliaments and construed into national legislation. The European Semester has evolved over the years with a gradual inclusion of social, economic, and employment objectives and it is governed by mainly three pillars which are a combination of hard and soft law due a mix of surveillance mechanisms and possible sanctions with coordination processes. The main objectives of the European Semester are noted as: contributing to ensuring convergence and stability in the EU; contributing to ensuring sound public finances; fostering economic growth; preventing excessive macroeconomic imbalances in the EU; and implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. However, the rate of the implementation of the recommendations adopted during the European Semester has been disappointing and has gradually declined since its initiation in 2011 which has led to an increase in the debate/criticism towards the effectiveness of the European Semester.

= History =
The European Semester was initiated in 2010 with the aim of providing better coordination between the European Union member states regarding their fiscal and economic policies. It is embedded in the architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and was created after the Financial crisis of 2007–08 and the Eurozone crisis. These international economic crisis deeply affected the EU member states and demonstrated the need for an enhanced economic and fiscal governance.

Prior to 2010, the EU member states’ economic policies were coordinated separately and yet the member states’ economies were (and still are) closely interdependent under the Economic and Monetary Union. Therefore, the countries found it appropriate to coordinate their economic policy procedures under a common time-based framework as well as to facilitate and harmonize their national budgetary, growth and employment policy goals, while taking into consideration various EU set of targets. The European Semester was meant to boost and improve the national strategies towards more fiscal, economic, employment and social policy coordination. It is based on different acts as well as on actions and development plans such as the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the European Employment Strategy, the Lisbon Strategy that sets the basis of the Open Method of Coordination and the Horizon 2020 strategy.

The European Semester was created under the legal basis of the Six-pack and especially Regulation (EU) No 1175/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies.The first Semester was initiated in 2011.

= The three pillars: a mix of hard and soft law =
The European economic governance is formed by 3 pillars that were taken over under a single overarching framework: the European Semester. Before 2010, the European economic governance consisted of 2 pillars: the budgetary surveillance since the adoption of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in 1997 and the socio-economic coordination initiated by the Lisbon Strategy in the early 2000. Since the Eurozone crisis, the economic dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was enhanced and one additional pillar was added while the existing pillars were strengthened. The 3 Pillars that form the European Semester since the crisis include:

* The budgetary surveillance that was strengthened (in view with the legislative acts reforming the SGP);
* The macroeconomic surveillance (created by the Six Pack);
* The socioeconomic coordination (strengthened by the Euro Plus Pact that came into force on 13 December 2011);
* In some literature, there is a fourth pillar based on Financial solidarity (formed by different acts: the Two Pack, the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact) which doesn’t play a relevant role during the Semester because all the macroeconomic and budgetary processes that form its core are part of the 3 pillars.

The European Semester is a framework of processes that combines hard and soft law. Soft law refers to non-binding processes. Indeed, during the European Semester, there is a coordination between the Member States that are not legally engaged and not forced to comply with its outcomes or its targets. Nevertheless, the European Semester also has a hard law component. Within hard law, the processes of budgetary as well as macroeconomic assessments and recommendations mentioned as legally engaging States in regulations or in treaties, must be observed. That means that States can be subjected to sanctions in case of non-compliance. The first and the second pillars of the European Semester form the hard law component. The third pillar is the broader one and the more sensitive for the Member States (mainly because of its social component) and deals with soft law.
Q458
European Union
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Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
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European institutions
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Member States
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European Union member states
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Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
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Financial crisis of 2007–08
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Eurozone crisis
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EU member states
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EU member states
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Economic and Monetary Union.
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Stability and Growth Pact
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European Employment Strategy
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Lisbon Strategy
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hard law
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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The European Semester
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2010
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2020-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
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2020
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1175-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1175
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2011-11-16T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
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1466
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