European semester

The 'European Semester' is the European Commission’s instrument to align the fiscal, macroeconomic and socio-economic policies (Europe 2020) of the EU member states.

The last few years, the European Semester, that starts with the publication of the Annual Growth Survey in November, invested strongly in an intensive dialogue between the European Commission and the Member States. Flanders actively participates in the bilateral dialogue between the European Commission and Belgium. The Commission wants to verify the progress made by the Member States, and uses this information when drafting the detailed country reports published in February each year.

Flanders follows the European Semester very closely since 2010. It takes ownership by drawing up its own Flemish reform programme and thus Flanders is one of the only regions in the European Union with an own reform programme. It is a good practice highly valued by the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions.

The Flemish Reform Programme formulates the Flemish policy responses to the country specific recommendations of the Council. It takes into account the Commission’s country report on Belgium and formulates answers to the challenges identified by the Commission for Flanders. Besides that, the Flemish Reform Programme describes other Flemish measures to bring us closer to the realization of the ambitious Flemish Europe 2020 objectives.

The Flemish Reform Programme is an integral part of the National Reform Programme of Belgium to be transmitted to the European Commission.

The European Semester is concluded with the adoption of country specific recommendations by the Council in July.