Economic Policy Committee: Annual Report on Structural Reforms 2000

The Annual Report on Structural Reforms, prepared by the Economic Policy Committee, analyses the overall strategies followed by Member States in the structural reform area and shows the progress which has been made by Members States so far. It provides for bench marking, suggests examples of good practice in economic reform and highlights areas where more needs to be done. The report suggests a comprehensive structural reform agenda encompassing the modernisation of product, services, capital and labour markets.

The report summarises the results of a country by country examination carried out in a Committee working group involving all 15 Member States, the Commission and the European Central Bank. It builds on various inputs from Member States and the Commission. Valuable input has also been provided by the Working Party on the Internal Market (Horizontal Questions).

The Annual Report on Structural Reforms was approved by ministers at the Ecofin Council on 13 March 2000. It contributes to the multilateral surveillance procedure and to the preparation of the new Broad Economic Policy Guidelines. It incorporates the 'Cardiff-process' for monitoring economic reform in Member States, which the Ecofin-Council launched on 1 May 1998.

The report for 2000 also provided an input for the special European Council in Lisbon, March 2000.

• Primary Source