The role of the European parliament in the European semester

Description: The “European Semester”, a six-month cycle of economic policy coordination has been launched in January 2011. Its aim is to review member states’ budgetary and structural policies already in the budget preparation stage in order to detect inconsistencies and emerging imbalances. The semester is supposed to provide a unified platform to reinforce policy coordination between different stakeholders.

The role of the European Parliament (EP) in the European Semester is not clear. The MEMO/11/14 issued on 12 January 2011 indicated that the annual growth survey is “to be discussed by Council formations and the European Parliament ahead of the Spring meeting of the European Council in March”, but the exact role of the EP at this stage has not been defined. No role is indicated for the second phase of the European Semester that spans from the March European Council meeting to June, the end of the process.

The research project intends to provide with an analysis of the role of the European Parliament in the European Semester along the two following key dimensions:

• An assessment of the principles behind the European Semester and its work in practice;
• The role of the European Parliament in the European Semester, along with national parliaments, and how to better design the role of the EP

The project entails the delivery of a Briefing Paper and a final Study providing conclusions and suggestions for improvement along both key dimensions.

Bruegel lead: Benedicta Marzinotto

Other Bruegel fellows involved: Zsolt Darvas, Guntram B. Wolff

Project duration: March 2011– June 2012

Funding organisation:

The European Parliament, Directorate A: Economic and Scientific Policy 

Publication: 

How effective and legitimate is the European semester? Increasing role of the European parliament by Benedicta Marzinotto, Guntram B. Wolff and Mark Hallerberg on 22nd September 2011