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The European Commission adopted on November 26th the 2026\u00a0<\/strong>European Semester<\/strong>\u00a0Autumn Package<\/strong>, setting out economic and employment policy priorities to\u00a0boost competitiveness<\/strong>. In an increasingly challenging geopolitical environment, the Commission calls for coordinated action to strengthen productivity, innovation and investment, in line with the\u00a0Competitiveness Compass. The Autumn Package launches the 2026 European Semester cycle, which will improve its analytical basis, strengthen dialogue between Member States and stakeholders, and reinforce the focus on implementation.<\/p>\n The 2026 European Semester Spring Package will provide policy recommendations to tackle the main country-specific challenges identified in the\u00a0Country Reports, building on a comprehensive set of 2025 country-specific recommendations.<\/p>\n This package builds on the\u00a0Autumn 2025 Economic Forecast, which shows that the\u00a0EU<\/strong>\u00a0economy remains resilient with moderate growth<\/strong>\u00a0mostly driven by robust domestic demand and investment, a solid labour market and easing inflation. At the same time, the EU is confronted with several strategic vulnerabilities and continues to face structural challenges, including low productivity, demographic pressures, and increasing demands on public finances linked to defence and the transition to a decarbonised and digital economy.\u00a0Strengthening competitiveness and maintaining sound public finances will therefore be essential to unlock Europe’s growth potential and safeguard stability.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Semester is reinforced with a new EU27 recommendation on human capital in view of the urgent need to increase productivity, boost talent and develop a future proof labour market.<\/p>\n Assessment of Member States’ Compliance with the EU fiscal framework<\/strong><\/p>\n Under this Semester Package, the Commission has assessed all Member States’ compliance with the EU fiscal framework and provided guidance to ensure that their fiscal policy in 2026 is aligned with the relevant Council Recommendations: either those endorsing Member States’ medium-term plans, or, for Member States under an excessive deficit procedure (EDP), recommendations aiming to bring an end to the EDP.<\/p>\n The Commission’s assessment focuses on the growth of net expenditure, the single operational indicator in the reformed economic governance framework. For the 16 Member States for which the Council has activated the national escape clause, the assessment takes into account the flexibility for increases in defence expenditure.<\/p>\n In particular, the Commission adopted\u00a0Opinions on the Draft Budgetary Plans<\/strong>\u00a0(DBPs)<\/strong>\u00a0for 2026 of 17 euro area Member States:<\/p>\n The Commission has also assessed the fiscal developments and prospects in the other Member States.<\/p>\n Developments on Excessive Deficit Procedures<\/strong><\/p>\n For the nine Member States in excessive deficit procedure,\u00a0Austria<\/strong>,\u00a0Belgium<\/strong>,\u00a0France<\/strong>,\u00a0Hungary<\/strong>,\u00a0Italy<\/strong>,\u00a0Malta<\/strong>,\u00a0Poland<\/strong>,\u00a0Romania<\/strong>, and\u00a0Slovakia<\/strong>, the procedure is held in abeyance. In concrete terms, this means that no further procedural steps are taken at this stage but that the ongoing procedure remains open (i.e. the deficit has not been durably brought below 3% of GDP), and the Member States remain bound by the respective Council recommendation. The Commission will reassess the situation next spring, when outturn data for 2025 becomes available.<\/p>\n The Commission also prepared a Report under Article 126(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU to assess compliance with the Treaty’s deficit criterion for two Member States,\u00a0Germany<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Finland<\/strong>. In light of the assessment contained in the report, opening of an excessive deficit procedure is warranted for\u00a0Finland<\/strong>. Therefore, after taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee, the Commission will consider proposing to the Council to open an excessive deficit procedure for\u00a0Finland<\/strong>\u00a0and propose to the Council a recommendation to put an end to the excessive deficit situation.<\/p>\n Recommendation for euro area economic policy for 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n This recommendation presents tailored policy advice to euro area Member States on topics that affect the functioning of the euro area as a whole. This year, the focus of the recommendation is on policy action to boost productivity and strengthen economic security, while maintaining the sustainability of public finances.<\/p>\n More specifically, the recommendation calls on euro area Member States to:<\/p>\n Recommendation on Human capital<\/strong><\/p>\n For the first time, the Commission proposed a Council recommendation on human capital.<\/p>\n The new Recommendation is addressed to all 27 Member States and calls for urgent actions to tackle human capital related structural challenges that can damage our competitiveness.<\/p>\n The recommendation therefore calls on Member States to prioritise education and skilling needed in strategic sectors for the EU economy, from clean transition, circular economy and industrial decarbonisation, health and biotech, agriculture and bioeconomy, to defence industry and space. It thus calls for stronger science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes.<\/p>\n It calls to\u00a0reverse the negative trend in basic skills.<\/strong>\u00a0This is essential to grow a future labour force with strong foundations to work and be trained in new tech and competitive industries.<\/p>\n Investment is a joint responsibility for businesses and public authorities alike. The Recommendation calls for public and private mobilization of resources to be invested in people. This is to the benefit of society, business, and people alike.<\/p>\n It finally calls for the importance of good quality, timely data and analysis that keeps pace with the evolution of economy\u00a0<\/strong>and is able\u00a0<\/strong>to anticipate emerging professions of the future so that our policies can answer the need of today and tomorrow rather than the ones of yesterday.<\/p>\n Alert Mechanism Report<\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0Alert Mechanism Report (AMR)\u00a0serves as the EU’s annual screening tool to facilitate an early identification of potential macroeconomic imbalances that may affect the economy of individual Member States, the euro area, or the EU as a whole. It identifies Member States which require\u00a0in-depth reviews\u00a0to assess whether they are affected by imbalances requiring policy action. The AMR is the starting point of the annual\u00a0macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP) cycle.<\/p>\n This year’s AMR calls for in-depth reviews to be prepared for the seven Member States already identified in the previous annual cycle as experiencing imbalances:\u00a0Greece<\/strong>,\u00a0Hungary<\/strong>,\u00a0Italy<\/strong>,\u00a0the Netherlands<\/strong>,\u00a0Slovakia<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Sweden<\/strong>, as well as for\u00a0Romania<\/strong>, which was assessed as having excessive imbalances in 2025.<\/p>\n The reviews will take place in the first half of 2026, and the Commission’s decisions on imbalances will be presented as part of the European Semester Spring Package.<\/p>\n European Macroeconomic Report<\/strong><\/p>\n The newly introduced European Macroeconomic Report in this Semester cycle underpins both the Euro Area Recommendation and the Alert Mechanism Report. It provides an overview of the euro area and EU economies in a rapidly evolving global environment, analysing key risks and opportunities. Key areas of focus include productivity challenges, vulnerabilities within the EU, and actions to strengthen Europe’s long-term competitiveness by boosting innovation, deepening the Single Market and mobilising private investment.<\/p>\n The report also examines Europe’s high saving rate in the context of fragmented capital markets and the potential benefits of a Savings and Investment Union to channel capital more effectively within the Union. In addition, it analyses the macroeconomic impact of higher defence spending, and looks at the impact of different types of defence expenditure, with a focus on domestic investment and R&D. The report further explores ways to reinforce Europe’s industrial capacity, such as through coordinated procurement.<\/p>\n\n
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