EU Semester Winter Package : review of national progress towards economic and social priorities
The European Commission recently published its annual analysis of the economic and social situation in the Member States, including an assessment of remaining imbalances. This assessment of Member States' progress is part of the annual cycle of economic policy coordination at EU level, known as the Winter Package of the European Semester. The package follows the economic forecast released previously.
The analysis of the Country Reports shows that in most Member States, economic recovery has contributed to declining unemployment rates, although these are still above pre-crisis levels and that large current account deficits have been corrected, and sizeable stocks of private, public and external debt have started falling as a share of Gross Domestic Product.
However, a number of risks remain: high current account surpluses are only being adjusted to a limited extent, while large stocks of non-performing loans weigh on the financial sector in some Member States.
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