The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) [1] is a set of European Union regulations designed to prevent and correct risky macroeconomic developments within EU member states, such as high current account deficits, unsustainable external indebtedness and housing bubbles. It was introduced by the EU in autumn 2011 amidst the economic and financial crisis, and entered into force on 13 December 2011. The MIP is part of the EU's "Sixpack" legislation, which aims to reinforce the monitoring and surveillance of macroeconomic policies in the EU and the euro area.
The first step of each yearly round of the MIP is the Alert Mechanism Report prepared by the European Commission. Based on a scoreboard of indicators, [2] which are not interpreted mechanically, the Commission identifies the countries and issues which require In-Depth Reviews for further economic analysis. The Commission also takes into account relevant data beyond the scope of the scoreboard, when selecting countries for in-depth reviews. Based on these in-depth reviews, the Commission determines if imbalances exist; what the nature of the imbalances is; and judges whether they are persistent, aggravating or unwinding. Depending on the severity of the imbalances the Commission proposes a policy recommendation under either the 'preventive arm' or the 'corrective arm' of the MIP.
In the case of countries where an imbalance exists, but is not of an excessive nature, the follow-up to the in-depth review will take place under the preventive arm of the MIP. [3] It is embedded in the European Semester (the EU's yearly cycle of economic policy coordination). This means that the MIP-relevant recommendation will be integrated in the package of proposals for Country-Specific Recommendations, which aim to provide guidance for national policy making.
If the Commission in their In-Depth Review find existence of an excessive imbalance, this might subsequently trigger an Excessive Imbalance Procedure (EIP) under the corrective arm of the MIP. The Commission's decision will be taken in the context of the additional analysis of the "National Reform Programme" and "Stability/Convergence Programme" submitted in April. If the Commission on this basis find the excessive imbalance soon will be mitigated by implementation of effective counter measures, they will refrain to open up an EIP, but the state will still be subject to "a specific and close monitoring of policy implementation" by a separate status report issued a half year later, which will conduct a real-time assessment of implemented action and establish peer pressure towards ensuring the promised reform action is taken by the Member State in concern. On the other hand, if an excessive imbalance that jeopardises the proper functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union is still found to exist by the end of the European Semester, not being properly rectified by the submitted programmes, the Commission will then (upon the same time of its publication of Country-Specific Recommendations) forward a special procedural recommendation to the Council for opening up an EIP. If the Council at its subsequent meeting decides to follow the Commission's recommendation to open up an EIP, the member state concerned will then have to submit a "corrective action plan" to the Council and Commission within a short notice, featuring a detailed roadmap for all specific policy actions with specific deadlines for implementing adequate measures satisfying the received Council recommendation. Surveillance will subsequently be stepped up by the Commission through regular progress reports drawn up by the member state concerned. The enforcement of the Excessive Imbalance Procedure is backed by sanctions for euro area member states (up to 0.1% of GDP), if they repeatedly fail to take agreed action or to deliver a sufficient "corrective action plan". [4] [5]
Since the entry into force of the EIP regulation on 13 December 2011, the Council however never has launched any Excessive Imbalance Procedure. Two main reasons exist for no launched EIP's. The first reason, was that all of the seven states identified to have excessive imbalance through 2013–15, succeeded to present sufficient counter measures when submitting their next year reform programme. The second reason, was that the most fragile and imbalanced "Programme countries" at the height of their imbalances received macroeconomic financial support from EFSM/EFSF/ESM/IMF or the EU Balance of Payments Programme, and thus were not covered at all by the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure and the Excessive Imbalance Procedure (instead being tightly monitored by their macroeconomic financial assistance programme). In 2013 the list of "Programme countries" included: Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Romania. In comparison, Spain was not considered to be a "Programme country" in 2013, due to only receiving financial assistance for bank recapitalizations and not any macroeconomic financial assistance. [5]
The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure was triggered the first time with the publication of the Alert Mechanism Report in February 2012. [6] Based on the analysis in the report, the European Commission carried out in-depth reviews for twelve EU member states. The countries included were: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The analysis confirmed that these EU member states faced macroeconomic imbalances of different nature. But none were considered excessive, therefore no Excessive Imbalance Procedure was launched. [7] The 'preventive arm' of the MIP was however activated, with the recommended policy responses to the imbalances being integrated in the set of Country-Specific Recommendations addressed to member states under the European Semester. These recommendations were endorsed by the European Council in June and subsequently adopted by the Council of Ministers in July 2012.
On 28 November 2012 the second Alert Mechanism Report was published. [8] Based on the report, the Commission decided to review the progress in all of the twelve member states initially reviewed in 2012. They were therefore all selected again for an In-Depth Review. In addition, the Commission also started in-depth reviews for Malta and the Netherlands. On 10 April 2013, the Commission published the in-depth reviews [1] and concluded that excessive imbalances exist in Spain and Slovenia. [9] [10] At its meeting on 14 May 2013, the Council of the European Union however stated that the European Commission should first review the national reform programmes of these countries, and on this basis it would then be assessed whether additional policy measures were necessary. [11] The Slovenian Prime Minister stated on 23 May:
We have the feeling the Commission believes submitting us to this [Excessive Imbalance] procedure will be a help to our country. This is not the case, in my estimate, and I believe it would be much better that Slovenia can on its own without any supervision resolve its problems. [12]
On 29 May 2013, after the national reform programmes of Spain and Slovenia had been reviewed, the Commission found those programmes to be sufficient; [13] and thus refrained from launching an Excessive Imbalance Procedure towards Spain and Slovenia. [14]
In the third Alert Mechanism Report published in November 2013, the Commission announced a new round of in-depth reviews for the countries already under scrutiny, but widened these reviews to Germany, Croatia, and Luxembourg, as well as to Ireland immediately after exit from its assistance programme. [15] In March 2014, the Commission concluded that it found no imbalances in Denmark, Malta and Luxembourg, while the remaining countries were experiencing imbalances. Imbalances in Spain were not considered excessive any more. Imbalances in Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia were however experienced as excessive, with decisions to be taken in June 2014 on subsequent steps under the MIP – meaning those three countries are in risk of facing the opening up of EIP's. [16] The joint decision by the Commission and Council whether or not to open up EIP's, will be taken in conjunction with the publication of the Country-Specific Recommendations in the context of the European Semester. [17] On 2 June 2014 the Commission announced for the three countries identified with excessive imbalance: "we have found that their national reform programmes appropriately address the main challenges we identified in March. That's why we are not proposing to launch the Excessive Imbalances Procedure for these three Member States. We will however monitor very closely the implementation of today’s detailed "Country Specific Recommendations", so as to provide the same support for the reform process in these countries, as we have over the past year for Spain and Slovenia, where progress has been very encouraging". [18]
Findings of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure for all EU member states | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | No In-depth review | No Imbalance | Imbalance | Excessive Imbalance | Excessive Imbalance Procedure | Programme countries |
2012 | Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia | Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom [7] | No [7] | No | Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania [7] | |
2013 | Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia | Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom [9] | Slovenia, Spain [9] | No [13] [14] | Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania [9] | |
2014 | Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia | Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta [16] | Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom [16] | Croatia, Italy, Slovenia [16] | No [18] | Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Romania [16] |
2015 | Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia | Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom [19] | Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal [19] | No [20] | Cyprus, Greece [19] | |
2016 | Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia [21] | Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, United Kingdom [21] | Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden [21] | Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Portugal [21] | No | Greece |
2017 | Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, United Kingdom [22] | Finland [22] | Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden [22] | Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Portugal [22] | No | Greece |
2018 | Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, United Kingdom [23] | Slovenia [23] | Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden [23] | Croatia, Cyprus, Italy [23] | No | Greece |
2019 | Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom [24] | Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden [24] | Cyprus, Greece, Italy [24] | No | ||
2020 | Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom [25] | Bulgaria [25] | Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden [25] | Cyprus, Greece, Italy [25] | No | |
2021 | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia [26] | Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden [26] | Cyprus, Greece, Italy [26] | No | ||
2022 | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia [27] | Croatia, Ireland [27] | France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden [27] | Cyprus, Greece, Italy [27] | No | |
2023 | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Slovenia [28] | Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia [28] | France, Germany, Cyprus, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden [28] | Greece, Italy [28] | No | |
2024 | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia [29] | France, Portugal, Spain [29] | Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden [29] | Romania [29] | No |
These surveillance reports listed below, published at regular intervals by the European Commission for states found to be in Excessive Imbalance, were crafted to check the country-specific progress of implementing mitigating reforms (as outlined by their annual National Reform Programme report). Each states period with extended surveillance, span from the time the Commission became aware of the existence of Excessive Imbalance, until the point of time when their In-Depth Review report (published annually in February/March) finds the Excessive Imbalance no longer exist.
The scoreboard [2] in the Alert Mechanism Report is currently made up of eleven indicators that monitor external imbalances and competitiveness, as well as internal imbalances. The indicators in the scoreboard ensure an early identification of imbalances that emerge over the short term in addition to those that arise due to structural and long-term trends. Since 2015, the scoreboard comprises 14 headline indicators for which indicative thresholds have been set. In addition the scoreboard comprises 28 auxiliary indicators without thresholds, that help to qualify its economic reading. [30]
The design of the scoreboard is as follows:
External imbalances and competitiveness
Internal imbalances
Social Indicators
The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure is based on two Regulations that are part of the 'six-pack' to improve economic governance in the EU. The first is Regulation 1176/2011, [31] which lays out the details of the surveillance procedure and covers all EU member states. The second is Regulation 1174/2011, [32] which focuses on enforcement, including the possibility of sanctions, and only applies to euro area member states.
The (ECOFIN) Council of the European Union, in its 2015 conclusions on EU statistics, recalled that the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure must rely upon sound and harmonised official statistics. The Council welcomed the close cooperation of the ESS and the ESCB, using existing fora, in ensuring the reliability of the statistics underlying the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) and their comparability, welcomed the production of the first ESS-ESCB quality report on MIP statistics and encouraged the two statistical systems to give high priority to taking forward this programme. [33]
European statistics is developed, produced and disseminated, within their respective spheres of competence, by [34] [35]
According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the ESS and the ESCB, [34] [35] the two systems producing European statistics cooperate on strategic level in the European Statistical Forum (ESF) and the operational platform is the Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics (CMFB).
The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Based primarily on Articles 121 and 126 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it consists of fiscal monitoring of member states by the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, and the issuing of a yearly Country-Specific Recommendation for fiscal policy actions to ensure a full compliance with the SGP also in the medium-term. If a member state breaches the SGP's outlined maximum limit for government deficit and debt, the surveillance and request for corrective action will intensify through the declaration of an Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP); and if these corrective actions continue to remain absent after multiple warnings, a member state of the eurozone can ultimately also be issued economic sanctions. The pact was outlined by a European Council resolution in June 1997 and two Council regulations in July 1997. The first regulation "on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies", known as the "preventive arm", entered into force 1 July 1998. The second regulation "on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure", sometimes referred to as the "dissuasive arm" but commonly known as the "corrective arm", entered into force 1 January 1999.
The budget of the European Union is used to finance EU funding programmes and other expenditure at the European level.
Government procurement or public procurement is undertaken by the public authorities of the European Union (EU) and its member states in order to award contracts for public works and for the purchase of goods and services in accordance with principles derived from the Treaties of the European Union. Such procurement represents 13.6% of EU GDP as of March 2023, and has been the subject of increasing European regulation since the 1970s because of its importance to the European single market.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) of the European Commission is meant to improve the competitiveness of European companies facing the challenges of globalization. The programme is mainly aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will receive support for innovation activities, better access to finance and business support services. It will run from 2007 to 2013.
The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) is the body in which the regulators of the telecommunications markets in the European Union work together. Other participants include representatives of the European Commission, as well as telecommunication regulators from the member states of the EEA and of states that are in the process of joining the EU.
The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. This popular initiative enables one million citizens of the European Union, with a minimum number of nationals from at least seven member states, to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the member states have conferred powers onto the EU level. This right to request the commission to initiate a legislative proposal puts citizens on the same footing as the European Parliament and the European Council, who enjoy this right according to Articles 225 and 241 TFEU, respectively. The commission holds the right of initiative in the EU. The first registered ECI, Fraternité 2020, was initiated on 9 May 2012, although the first submitted ECI was One Single Tariff.
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages.
Europe 2020 is a 10-year strategy proposed by the European Commission on 3 March 2010 for advancement of the economy of the European Union. It aims at a "smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" with greater coordination of national and European policy. It follows the Lisbon Strategy for the period 2000–2010.
European Union–Pakistan relations are the international relations between the common foreign policy and trade relations of the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. There has been no EU State Leader's visit for over twenty years.
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objective of preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in economic difficulty. The Facility's headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism. Treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM.
The European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) is an emergency funding programme reliant upon funds raised on the financial markets and guaranteed by the European Commission using the budget of the European Union as collateral. It runs under the supervision of the Commission and aims at preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to member states of the European Union in economic difficulty.
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was established on 27 September 2012 as a permanent firewall for the eurozone, to safeguard and provide instant access to financial assistance programmes for member states of the eurozone in financial difficulty, with a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. It has replaced two earlier temporary EU funding programmes: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM).
The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the Stability and Growth Pact, signed on 2 March 2012 by all member states of the European Union (EU), except the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The treaty entered into force on 1 January 2013 for the 16 states which completed ratification prior to this date. As of 3 April 2019, it had been ratified and entered into force for all 25 signatories plus Croatia, which acceded to the EU in July 2013, and the Czech Republic.
Within the framework of EU economic governance, Sixpack describes a set of European legislative measures to reform the Stability and Growth Pact and introduces greater macroeconomic surveillance, in response to the European debt crisis of 2009. These measures were bundled into a "six pack" of regulations, introduced in September 2010 in two versions respectively by the European Commission and a European Council task force. In March 2011, the ECOFIN council reached a preliminary agreement for the content of the Sixpack with the commission, and negotiations for endorsement by the European Parliament then started. Ultimately it entered into force 13 December 2011, after one year of preceding negotiations. The six regulations aim at strengthening the procedures to reduce public deficits and address macroeconomic imbalances.
The Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) is one of the pillars of the European Union's banking union. The Single Resolution Mechanism entered into force on 19 August 2014 and is directly responsible for the resolution of the entities and groups directly supervised by the European Central Bank as well as other cross-border groups. The centralised decision making is built around the Single Resolution Board (SRB) consisting of a chair, a Vice Chair, four permanent members, and the relevant national resolution authorities.
The Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece, usually referred to as the third bailout package or the third memorandum, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Hellenic Republic in order to cope with the Greek government-debt crisis.
Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) is an advisory committee for the European Commission (Eurostat) and European Central Bank for cooperation between the statistical and central banking community in the Europe Union.
The European Semester of the European Union was established in 2010 as an annual cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination. It provides a central framework of processes within the EU socio-economic governance. The European Semester is a core component of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and it annually aggregates different processes of control, surveillance and coordination of budgetary, fiscal, economic and social policies. It also offers a large space for discussions and interactions between the European institutions and Member States. As a recurrent cycle of budgetary cooperation among the EU Member States, it runs from November to June and is preceded in each country by a national semester running from July to October in which the recommendations introduced by the Commission and approved by the Council are to be adopted by national parliaments and construed into national legislation.