Country Reviews Working Group

In order to ensure closer coordination of economic policies and sustained convergence of the economic performances of the Member States, the Council shall, on the basis of reports submitted by the Commission, monitor economic developments in each of the Member States and in the Union as well as the consistency of economic policies with the broad guidelines, and regularly carry out an overall assessment.

Philippe Gudin De Vallerin - Chairman

Scope

The CRWG is a standing working group of the EPC. It support the EPC in its statutory task of contributing to the multilateral surveillance procedure referred to in Article 99 of the Treaty.

Main tasks

The main tasks of the Group are:

The annual drafting of the country-specific Integrated Recommendations in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs
The drafting of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines when these are renewed.
Conducting regular thematic country reviews on structural reforms in Member States, concentrating on focal themes within Ecofin’s and EPC's remit.

Participation

Participation in the Group takes place at full Member level. The working group co-ordinates closely with High Level Group (HLG) the Employment Committee (EMCO).The members of the working group will comprise representatives from national authorities, the Commission and ECB. The members of the working group will comprise representatives from national authorities, the Commission and ECB.

Interactions with the work carried out by other groups

Close interaction is needed with the Working Group on the Methodology to assess Lisbon related structural reforms (LIME) and the Labour Market Working Group (LMWG).