This initiative will allow the economic and budgetary policies of the EU member states to be monitored in parallel during a six-month period every year, starting in 2011, so as to detect any inconsistencies and emerging imbalances.

The so-called European semester is one of the first initiatives to emerge from a task force on economic governance set up at the request of the European Council in March and chaired by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. The aim is to boost coordination of the member states’ economic policies on the basis of expected results.

The new monitoring cycle will start each year in March when, on the basis of a report from the Commission, the European Council will identify the main economic challenges and give strategic advice on policies. Taking this advice into account, the member states will during April review their medium-term budgetary strategies and at the same time draw up national reform programmes setting out the action they will undertake in areas such as employment and social inclusion. In June and July, the European Council and the Council will provide policy advice before the member states finalise their budgets for the following year.