Background information

The European Commission has re-launched the Economic Governance Review, following suspension of such consultations due to the start of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020, presenting its communication on this matter on 19 October 2021.

The Commission communication assesses the implications of the changed circumstances for economic governance following the COVID-19 crisis and sets out additional questions for the public debate.

Content of measure

The Commission notes that the EU economy faced several long-term structural challenges yet before the COVID-19 crisis.

• First, despite the improvement in labour market efficiency preceding the pandemic, a rapidly ageing population threatened to ultimately reduce labour supply and thus the EU's growth potential.
• Second, weak productivity growth was a brake on economic growth, and the EU was lagging behind China and the US in the digital transformation process.
• Third, the very significant socioeconomic costs of climate change have become clearer and more pressing.
• Fourth, increasing income and wealth inequalities, territorial disparities within and between Member States, and unequal access to education and skills have stifled economic growth and created tensions in the EU's social fabric.

The COVID-19 crisis has made these challenges more visible and urgent. The Commission therefore invites all stakeholders to reflect on how economic governance works and to present their views on how to make it more effective. The aim of the public debate is to reach a broad consensus on the way forward in good time before 2023.

Use of measure

Not applicable.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government EU (Council, EC, EP)	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The involvement of the social partners will take place during the discussion phase on the content of the communication.

Views and reactions

EU cross-sectoral social partners -BusinessEurope (BE) and the ETUC supported the relaunch of the European governance review. However, they have not yet clearly responded to the presented content. For example, BE stated that whilst the premature unwinding of support for the recovery should be avoided, in the medium term, EU Member States must return to fiscally sustainable positions and ETUC concluded that the communication addressed the right issues but did not set a clear direction for the economic governance review.

Sources

• 19 October 2021: Economic governance review communication (ec.europa.eu)
• 19 October 2021: Economic governance must put public finances on sustainable footing (www.businesseurope.eu)
• 08 December 2021: ETUC resolution on actions in the framework of the revision of the EU Economic Governance (www.etuc.org)