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Greece's National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play
Before the pandemic, the Greek economy was just getting back onto a positive path, following reforms implemented under the macroeconomic adjustment programmes. Greece was among the first four countries to submit its national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) in April 2021. The plan envisages investment and reforms totalling €30.5 billion, to be implemented up to 2026; €17.8 billion will be financed from non-repayable financial support (grants), and €12.7 billion – the maximum possible allocation ...
A targeted golden rule for public investments?
The EU faces the challenge to combine large and sustained investments to promote the transition towards a green, digital, and competitive Europe while maintaining fiscal sustainability. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the effects of fiscal rules and investment clauses on public finances, this in-depth analysis provides some guidance how higher public investments can be achieved by a targeted golden rule without harming fiscal sustainability in the EU fiscal framework. The study also ...
Measures tackling aggressive tax planning in the national recovery and resilience plans
This briefing focuses on policy measures to contain aggressive tax planning (ATP) that six Member States – Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta and the Netherlands – have laid out in their individual national recovery and resilience plans, which were drawn up in order to benefit from the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery instrument. The countries were selected because their European Semester and 2019 and 2020 country-specific recommendations (CSRs) highlighted ATP concerns. ATP is a harmful ...
General product safety regulation
During the second part-session of March 2023, the European Parliament is expected to vote on the political agreement on the proposed regulation on general product safety reached in trilogue negotiations on 28 November 2022. This new regulation will replace the current General Product Safety Directive. It addresses the product safety challenges of emerging technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and connected devices, and establishes clear obligations for online marketplaces ...
Outlook for the meetings of EU leaders on 23-24 March 2023
Europe's long-term strategy for the competitiveness of its economy, notably regarding investment, innovation and trade, will be at the centre of the European Council meeting on 23 and 24 March 2023. EU leaders will of course address Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and consider the multidimensional (political, financial, economic, humanitarian and military) assistance the EU and its Member States have been providing to Ukraine, particularly joint ammunition procurement. Regarding energy ...
Quantitative tightening in the euro area - compilation of papers
The term "quantitative tightening" refers to the process of decreasing the central bank's balance sheet through a reduction of asset holdings acquired during "quantitative easing". Over the years, the Eurosystem acquired a substantial portfolio of assets as part of its asset purchase programmes. While the European Central Bank (ECB)'s Governing Council decided already in 2022 to stop net purchases, reinvestments of principal repayments continued until March 2023, thus maintaining the exisiting stock ...
Workshop on COVID-19: EU Crisis Preparedness and Response
These proceedings summarise the presentations and discussions during the workshop on ‘COVID-19: EU Preparedness and Response’, held on 8 March 2023. The five presentations touched, inter alia, upon the impact of COVID-19 at EU level, and how the EU has been prepared, how it responded to that crisis, and the lessons learned following the pandemic. These workshop proceedings were provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies for the Special Committee on COVID ...
Implementation of the 2022 euro area recommendations
This note provides an overview of the implementation of the 2022 recommendation on the economic policies of the euro area proposed by the Commission and agreed by the Council. It makes use of public information and proxies such as on how the Eurogroup has integrated euro area recommendations’ concerns in their “thematic discussions” and work programmes. This note will be updated in light of relevant developments.
Council recommendations on the Economic Policy of the Euro Area
This note looks at the 2023 recommendation on the economic policies of the euro area proposed by the Commission and agreed by the Council. The note provides a review of the euro area recommendations from an institutional perspective and includes broad comparisons to earlier recommendations, in order to illustrate how policy concerns have evolved over time. This note is an update on a previous version and will be updated in light of relevant developments.
Public hearing with Christine Lagarde, Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board - 20 March 2023
This note is prepared in view of a regular public hearing with the Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), Christine Lagarde, which will take place on 20 March 2023. The briefing (i) provides a European per-spective on recent US bank failures; (ii) provides summary of the risk outlook and the picking up of corporate insolvencies; (iii) describes the risks building up in housing markets; (iv) summarises the ongoing continuing work on the macroprudential policy toolkit for cyber resilience ...