You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on the European

semester. Achieving Europe's 2020 targets of sustainable growth is a team effort that will

require the coordination of member states, budgetary and economic plans. To lead this fiscal and economic choreography, the EU has set up the European semester,

a key element in the EU's economic governance.

But let's decipher the jargon and explain more. Stay with us.

In late 2009, with more and more Eurozone countries unable to refinance their government

debts or to bail out over-indebted banks, the EU is set to work on resolving the root causes

of this crisis.

So next to the emergency support mechanisms, long-term measures and tightened surveillance systems

to prevent future crises were also set in motion.

One of them is the European semester.

It aims to detect, prevent and correct dangerous economic trends such as excessive government

deficits or public debt levels that would put a country or the whole euro area into trouble

again. So how does it work? It seems complex, but it is fairly straightforward. The European semester is essentially a yearly

cycle of economic policy coordination. It ensures that member states discuss their budgetary

and economic plans with their EU partners at specific times throughout the year. This allows them

to comment on each other's plans and enables the European Commission

to step in before decisions are made at national level. But let's take it step by step.

Well, the first step is the Commission's annual growth survey, which is published every year in

November and establishes the general economic priorities for the EU, providing member states

with policy guidance for the upcoming year.

The Commission also publishes the Alert Mechanism Report, which identifies member states

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