Structural reforms and economic governance
Properly implementing structural reforms can have a significant positive effect on long-term growth. Analysis by the OECD suggests that “if countries were to move to best practice in product and labour market policy settings, aggregate output in the Euro-area could rise by more than 6% by 2025”. This would almost halve the per capita gap with the United States by 2030.
Once a year the European Commission proposes country-specific recommendations (CSRs) to member states for budgetary, economic and social policies which are subsequently adopted by the Council.
BusinessEurope member federations believe that 89% of the CSRs they have analysed focus on the right issues for reform in EU member states.
However, BusinessEurope's yearly survey of its member federations continues to reveal a lack of consistent reform implementation despite the right objectives for reform. Our member federations conclude that only 22% of CSRs have been implemented satisfactorily - a slight increase compared to the 17% figure observed in 2017. When considering the additional proportion of CSRs where mixed (i.e. some) progress has been identified, the figure jumps to 70% (compared to 63% last year). While the proportion has fallen from last year, still more than a quarter of CSRs saw no or little progress according to our members.
