European Semester on agenda of local and regional government social partners

(23 May 2016) Social partners from the  local and regional government sector had a wide-ranging discussion on the 'European Semester' at the recent social dialogue committee meeting in Brussels (20 May).

Bart Vanhercke, Director of the European Social Observatory (OSE) gave  an overview of the economic governance process and highlighted  the three possible “entry points” for EPSU and CEMR to get involved:

  • The elaboration of the Annual Growth Survey (AGS);
  • The National Reform Programmes (NRPs)
  • The preparation of the Country Reports & the Country-specific recommendations (CSRs)

His conclusion stressed  that the social dimension of the European Semester has been enhanced over the years – both in terms of substantive policy orientations and governance procedures – but that  there is still considerable room for improvement.

(Photo: from left to right: Bart Vanhercke OSE, Mads Samsing EPSU, Malin Looberger and Leonardo Ebner CEMR)