European Semester Autumn Package: Striving for sustainable and inclusive growth

The Commission has set out the EU’s economic and social priorities for the year ahead, given policy recommendations for the euro area and completed the assessment of euro area Member States’ Draft Budgetary Plans. The European Semester Autumn Package package released on 22 November includes the Commission’s recommendations in the Annual Growth Survey, the Alert Mechanism Report, the Draft Joint Employment Report, a recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area, and opinions on the draft budgetary plans of euro area members. The Commission also recommended that the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) be closed for the United Kingdom. It also proposed that the Council adopt a revised recommendation to Romania to correct its significant deviation from the adjustment path towards the medium-term budgetary objective. The package kicks off the 2018 European Semester cycle of economic, fiscal and social policy coordination, which starts against the backdrop of robust economic activity in the euro area and the EU, record high employment levels and unemployment rates declining towards pre-crisis levels. The package is based on the Commission's Autumn 2017 Economic Forecast and builds on the priorities of President Juncker's 2017 State of the Union address. It also reflects the recent proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at the Gothenburg Social Summit.