Country-Specific Recommendations - Scorecard for 2013: How far are EU Member States meeting their European Council commitments? (Second edition)

This study provides an evaluation of the implementation of the 2013 Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) adopted by  the EU Council of Finance Ministers, after endorsement by the European Council in the framework of the 2013 European Semester. CSRs aim at boosting sustainable growth and jobs while ensuring the soundness of Member States' public finances. They relate to four broad policy areas: public finances, the financial sector, structural reforms, and employment and social policies. The text focuses on 22 EU Member States for which an IMF Country Report and/or an OECD Economic Survey was published in 2014. EU Member States, which were under an Economic Adjustment Programme – namely, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus - are not covered by this analysis, as the Commission did not issue any CSRs for them in 2013. Romania is not covered either as it was under an EU/IMF financial assistance programme. The analysis contained in this study suggests that implementation of CSRs by EU Member States continued to lose momentum in 2013. Only 11 per cent of the CSRs were fully addressed, compared to an average of 18 per cent in 2011-12. Conversely, the rate of 'no implementation' rose to 55 per cent, from 43 per cent in 2011-12.